Chadstone Homemaker Centre sells in biggest large-format retail deal since 2021
Chadstone Homemaker Centre has sold for $86.025 million, making it the largest large-format retail transaction in Victoria since 2021. BWP Trust offloaded the major homemaker centre to Centuria following a competitive on-market expressions-of-interest campaign managed by Stonebridge Property Group’s Justin Dowers, Philip Gartland and Kevin Tong.
The sale follows BWP Trust’s recent acquisition of HomeCentre Morayfield in Queensland for $48 million, adding to the success of Stonebridge’s retail investments team, which has included more than $4 billion in major retail deals nationally over the past five years.
Located approximately 13 kilometres south-east of the Melbourne CBD, Chadstone Homemaker Centre is anchored by Bunnings Warehouse and supported by a range of national large-format retail tenants. The asset is close to Chadstone Shopping Centre, one of Australia’s most prominent retail sites.
The acquisition highlights what agents describe as a broader countercyclical shift back into Victoria, with investors seeking exposure ahead of an anticipated recovery cycle. Stonebridge noted that relative value, population growth and major infrastructure investment continue to underpin the state’s medium-term outlook, prompting groups to move earlier in the cycle.
“Although Victoria ranked as the third-most-active state for retail investment activity in 2025, we are now seeing increasing depth of enquiry for Melbourne-based retail assets, with competition returning,” Dowers said.
“We expect transaction activity in Victoria to increase materially this year, and the sale of Chadstone Homemaker Centre is a clear example of capital moving back into the state.”
Philip Gartland, also a national partner at Stonebridge, said the campaign attracted strong interest from a wide mix of buyer groups, including private capital, syndicators, institutional investors and offshore parties.
“The on-market campaign generated strong interest from a broad range of buyer types … clear signs of countercyclical momentum are emerging, with groups that were previously observing now actively deploying capital into Victoria,” Gartland said.
Investor appetite for retail has been building nationally, with CBRE identifying the sector as one of the strongest-performing areas of the commercial market over the past year. CBRE found that transaction activity for retail assets picked up by nearly 20 per cent through 2025, driven by tightening supply, resilient consumer demand and renewed competition for defensive, income-backed centres. Minimal new supply and population growth have further strengthened fundamentals,
“Investors have picked up on multiple themes including rising consumption, tight vacancy, shrinking supply, reset rents and attractive valuations,” said Simon Rooney, CBRE’s head of retail capital markets, Pacific.
