Brisbane CBD tower being sold by DWS Group could trade for $112m

Funds manager Clarence Property has emerged as the latest suitor for an office block on Edward St in the Brisbane CBD being sold by DWS Group that could trade for about $112m.

The tower sale is expected to be another marker of both rising activity and the pricing reset in the Queensland capital’s office market, where buying has been dominated by private buyers.

Charter Hall and a Canadian backer earlier sold 309 North Quay to Taiwanese-backed developer Shayher for about $46m. The group also offloaded 343 Albert St to a private player for about $55m, pulling back from another office site, while Alceon also bought 40 Tank St from Charter Hall for $73m.

In other deals, the Australian Unity Office Fund sold off a Brisbane office block that was facing vacancy issues for $64.5m in a deal showing a premium to its book value. It is expected to be converted to another use. Marquette Properties also bought 41 George Street for about $120m from the Basil Property Trust, owned by Saudi investment house Al Rajhi Group and run by Singapore-based AEP Investment Management, and is planning to convert it into student ­accommodation.

In the Edward St deal, the tower is being sold by DWS Group, which was formerly Deutsche Asset Management. It bought the tower from Axis Capital for $142.7m in 2017 and then refurbished it, but the market has since shifted.

Clarence is one of the best known unlisted property fund managers. Its flagship trust is the Clarence Property Diversified Fund, which has more than $770m of assets under management. Clarence, which declined to comment on the transaction, is believed to have lined up funding.

The group told investors earlier this year that it was cautiously optimistic about the remainder of the year and had 12 development approval applications lodged or being worked on covering land subdivisions, office, retail, industrial and other commercial properties. Funds house Ashe Morgan last year looked at buying the office block on Edward St, but the deal did not go ahead as interest rates were hiked.

The deal is being handled by CBRE, which declined to comment, and would show a yield of close to 8 per cent, which would rise once the building was leased.

The A Grade, 18-level office building spans 15,161sq m and was built in 2001. It has since been upgraded and is rated 5 Star NABERS, with scope to improve.

CBRE research showed prime CBD yields softened by six basis points in the first quarter to average 6.39 per cent, which reflects about 110 basis points of softening from peak pricing in early 2022.

It said the sale of 175 Eagle St – to mining magnate Gina Rinehart – confirmed these levels, given that it is a good quality A-Grade multi-tenanted building in the Golden Triangle

“Given the improved outlook on interest rates and the strong leasing fundamentals, 2024 should see an improvement in activity. Capital values should start to stabilise during the year given that softening in yields will end and rents are likely to continue to grow,” the CBRE report said. It said Brisbane had one of the stronger leasing markets in the Asia-Pacific recently, which is likely to draw some interest from offshore groups.