A six-storey office building in Woden Town Centre, which currently houses the ACT government's COVID-19 response team, has been listed for sale with an $80 million price guide.
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Located at 2-6 Bowes Street, Phillip, the 12,376-square-metre building is leased by government tenants including the ACT Government Health Directorate and offers a weighted average lease expiry of 9.4 years.
Nic Purdue, CBRE director of capital markets, Canberra, said an office building which is underpinned by long-term government leases is "like gold" for commercial property investors.
"With still a fair amount of global economic uncertainty around, picking up a building with a government tenant that provides a lot of security and stability is really like gold at the moment, it's just so highly sought after," he said.
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Altis Property Partners has appointed CBRE and Colliers International to market the sale of the building, which has already received strong interest despite the ACT lockdown and border closures.
"We've certainly got national interest, we've got some interest coming from Asia and we've also had a bit of interest coming from Europe," Mr Purdue said.
"It ticks a lot of boxes, for not just domestic investors but global investors as well."
According to the Property Council of Australia, the first half of 2021 saw Canberra's overall office vacancy rate drop to 7.7 per cent, its lowest vacancy since 2009 and well below the national average of 11.9 per cent.
Vacancies are calculated on leases in place for office spaces, not on whether employees are occupying the space or working from home.
With still a fair amount of global economic uncertainty around, picking up a building with a government tenant that provides a lot of security and stability is really like gold at the moment, it's just so highly sought after.
- Nic Purdue, CBRE
These statistics, driven by Canberra's strong public sector workforce, are a major selling point for investors, said Mr Purdue.
"Canberra has really stood out as an attractive investment market for a lot of buyers because of the high percentage of assets that are tenanted by either the Commonwealth or state government," he said.
The revitalisation of Woden Town Centre, which includes the new Canberra Institute of Technology campus, myriad residential developments and the light rail extension, is also helping to attract buyers to the area.
"Anytime there's these major infrastructure projects in the market it helps provide a lot more certainty for buyers and it helps underwrite their investment thesis when they're looking at buildings like this," Mr Purdue said.
He said the Woden Town Centre is now recognised as "Australia's health policy hub", with the federal government's Department of Health headquarters located on nearby Furzer Street and Canberra Hospital, currently undergoing a $600 million expansion, also in reach.
"The area is really seen as quite a stable occupier market driven by health tenants," Mr Purdue said.
According to CoreLogic data, 2-6 Bowes Street last sold in 2012 for $14 million.
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