Sydney carbon-neutral childcare centre gains 67 per cent in 16 months

Of the 14 properties offered for sale by agents Cushman & Wakefield, 12 sold under the hammer, including $41 million of childcare centres in Sydney and the Gold Coast. Another two properties sold before auction, resulting in a 100 per cent clearance rate.

Records show the St Ives vendor was fund manager Hampton Property Group, led by Derek Miller, which paid $9.5 million for the childcare centre in July last year.

Held in a single asset unlisted fund, the childcare centre’s value increased $6.4 million in just 16 months, a capital gain of 67 per cent.

It sold with a new 15-year lease in place to operator Orchard Early Learning.

Michael Collins, head of investment sales at Cushman & Wakefield, said it was the highest price paid nationally at auction to his knowledge for a childcare centre and highlighted the hunt for yield among private investors.

“It’s another vote of confidence in childcare assets and the appeal of defensive investments on long-term leases,” he said.

“There’s an insatiable appetite for yield in the market, and results like this are the evidence.”

Alongside the St Ives childcare centre, Brisbane construction firm BWC Group was the vendor of a 15-year leased Guardian Early Learning Centre in Camperdown in Sydney’s inner west, which sold for $10.3 million on a 3.98 per cent yield.

A childcare centre in Burleigh Heads, offered with a 20-year lease, sold for $9.275 million on a 4.2 per cent yield.

Other trophy assets to sell under the hammer included an IGA-anchored neighbourhood shopping centre in Pottsville in northern NSW ($10.2 million on a 4.58 per cent yield), an Ampol Petrol Station in Woy Woy on the NSW Central Coast ($5.365 million on a 4.57 per cent) and neighbourhood centre near Wollongong ($4.48 million on a 4.45 per cent yield).

“All the buyers were private high net worth investor group or family syndicates. There was no institutional money,” Mr Collins said.