Nubco Property Snapped Up by Sydney Investor

A Tasmanian hardware property has fetched a multimillion sum at auction.

Nubco Hardware, at Lot 3/39a Don Road in Devonport, was among the 20 assets sold under the hammer in Melbourne at Burgess Rawson’s 147th Portfolio Auction.

The 1.21ha property fetched $5.275 million. Burgess Rawson senior sales executive Matthew Wright said the Nubco purchaser is based in Sydney.

“There was interest from underbidders from previous Nubco properties sales, however, we targeted a different type of investor from previous campaigns as this property is an industrial site,” he said.

“The purchaser was an underbidder from a previous Tasmanian campaign we ran earlier in the year.

“We had 10 registered bidders with locals bidding from the Launceston and Hobart Knight Frank offices alongside bidders from around the country including Victoria and NSW.

“The auction was broadcast live with bidding available via phone and online.”

Knight Frank Northern Tasmania partner Nicholas Bond said interest in fully leased industrial assets in Tasmania has seen a marked increase during 2020 and 2021.

He said this not only mirrors the strong performance of the sector nationally, but also highlights the confidence that exists for industrial assets in Tasmania based on strong sector-wide tenant performance during the Covid-19 pandemic.

“Local Tasmanian interest was from private investors and syndicators from around the state,” Mr Bond said.

“Investors were drawn to the asset based on a combination of ASX listed lease covenant, fixed annual rental increases and low site coverage.”

Earlier this year Nubco assets achieved huge sale prices in Kingston ($4m), Wivenhoe Burnie ($1.25m), Mornington ($2.085m), Invermay ($3.515m), Derwent Park ($3.74m), and another Devonport site ($2.25m).

This week’s sale event is Australia’s largest commercial portfolio auction to hit the market.

It commenced in Melbourne and will continue in Sydney and Brisbane with 60-plus properties to be sold under the hammer over three days.

In a remote event, 21 properties were auctioned and 20 sold for a combined value of $83.261 million.

There were 189 registered bidders who made 501 total bids across the day.

Burgess Rawson noted a large number of the properties were purchased sight unseen.

Burgess Rawson’s national head of agency, Adam Thomas, said the size of the portfolio — 61 properties worth in excess of $260m — reflects the increased investor appetite for commercial assets.

“Investors who typically would have channelled their funds into the share market or residential sector are seeing greater stability, and sustainable levels of growth, in commercial assets,” he said