Cbus Property’s Langston Village, a metropolitan neighbourhood convenience and dining destination located in Epping, just 16 kilometres from the Sydney CBD, has sold to a private Sydney investor, attracted to the centre’s secure income stream and prime metropolitan location.
Opened in April 2022, the neighbourhood convenience centre forms part of the award-winning mixed-use development, The Langston Epping, which comprises 462 apartments across three residential towers. Anchored by Mint Fresh IGA, on a seven-year lease with options until 2044, the 2,254m2neighbourhood centre includes a gym and eight bespoke food and service-based specialty tenants.
The newly built neighbourhood centre was sold by David Mahood, Sebastian Fahey and Nick Willis from JLL Retail Investments through a competitive on-market EOI process. The sale demonstrates the continued elevated demand for convenience-based retail investments, marking the 11th neighbourhood centre to transact in New South Wales.
David Mahood, Executive at JLL Retail Investments – NSW, said, “On-market supply for neighbourhood centres continue to be heavily constrained. Since 2019, annual on-market transactions have averaged around $900 million and so far in 2024 there has only been $365 million of on-market neighbourhood transactions.
Being only the third centre to trade on-market this year, the sale campaign for Langston Village was hotly contested with seven bids at the close of the EOI process.”
The consistent appeal of core metropolitan neighbourhood centres is attracting significant capital, driven by stable income streams and long-term capital growth potential. This demand is further heightened by rising construction and elevated debt costs. As a result, demand is quickly outpacing the limited on-market supply.
Sebastian Fahey, Executive at JLL Retail Investments – NSW commented, “The limited on-market supply has resulted in capital needing to be more competitive on pricing to participate in the neighbourhood sector. Combined with the current cost of capital, private investors have dominated the acquisition market. We are currently seeing a significant weight of maiden capital transition to the sector with a third of transactions in 2024 being acquired by new entrants.”
Mahood added, “Of the 57 national neighbourhood transactions that have occurred since 2023, nearly 80% have been acquired by private investors, with 35 of these being acquired on a passing yield of 6% or less.”
Langston Village is the seventh NSW based neighbourhood centre transacted by the JLL Retail Investments team in 2024, representing a dominant market share of more than 90%.
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