Burgess Rawson’s closing auction of 2022 sees demand for ECEC freeholds

Early childhood education and care (ECEC) real estate and business broker Burgess Rawson has completed its last auction campaign of 2022 with three centres sold and a fourth finding a buyer off market.

Burgess Rawson Partner, Adam Thomas said essential services, in particular childcare investments remain highly contested across Queensland and throughout Australia due to their secure, long term leases and quality tenants.

Portfolio Auction 157 realised more than $76 million over its three-day event with Melbourne the highlight with $36,529,000 in sales and an average yield of 5.14% with bidding was also up.

171 registered bidders participated compared to 125 at the previous portfolio auction while there were 35 sales compared to 32 at the last event.

Of particular note this auction was the sale of the Eden Academy childcare centre, an iconic two-storey building on a site of 1,468 square metres as well as the very strong performance of a smaller site in Prahan achieving a yield of 3.12 per cent.

Auction results for this campaign were as follows:

Auchenflower, QLD – 75 place centre leased to Eden Academy sold for $6,850,000 on a yield of 5.1 per cent

Monee Ponds, VIC – 91 place centre leased to Busy Bees Australia sold for $6,455,000 on a yield of 5.04 per cent

Prahran, VIC – 42 place centre leased to Guardian Early Learning sold for $3,270,000 on a yield of 3.12 per cent

A fourth property at 9 Richardson Street, Merrylands 9 was sold prior to the auction.

“Looking ahead, the team is now focused on preparing for next year. Given recent trends we are confident that 2023 will be another strong year for the ECEC sector assets in which the resilience of this important sector continues to drive demand,” Mr Thomas added.