Big price for little feet: childcare centre sells
Tapping into investor demand for steady income, the Agosta family has sold a childcare centre at Footscray, in Melbourne’s west, for $11.5 million, the first such sale to top $10 million this year.
Operating under the Nino Early Learning Adventures brand, the multilevel centre on Geelong Road has a building area of 2228 square metres. The transaction, brokered by CBRE’s Sandro Peluso, Josh Twelftree, Jimmy Tat and Marcello Caspani-Muto, was struck on a yield of 5.8 per cent.
The buyer of the recently completed centre is a local wealthy investor and a first-time childcare buyer who, like some other private investors, has gravitated towards healthcare and social infrastructure assets, spurred on by the economic uncertainties of the pandemic.
“Investors have made clear their intentions to focus on properties with sound fundamentals and we are already experiencing a flight to quality where well-located assets with reliable income streams and long leases are keenly sought,” Mr Twelftree said.
“Childcare investments with strong underlying land value are on the top of the investors’ wish lists as it gives them confidence that, due to the higher cost of entry into these areas, it is less likely a competitor will open a centre in close vicinity.”
Last month a childcare centre at Oakleigh East, in the city’s south-east, changed hands for $8.08 million on a yield of 5.4 per cent.
The childcare sector has been given a further boost with transitional federal government funding as part of the pandemic assistance package.
