Strong Queensland Hotel Sale Follows Flurry of NSW Hotel Sale Activity

Further confidence in hospitality indexed commercial property holdings is illustrated by the recent sale of the multi-storey Coolangatta Sands Hotel in South East Queensland by boutique brokerage firm HTL Property.

Following its recent Australian record sale of Manly’s beachfront Hotel Steyne, HTL Property’s Managing Director Andrew Jolliffe advises the Coolangatta Sand’s International EOI campaign has delivered an unconditional sale to well-known and Sydney based hotelier Joe Irvin of the privately owned Irvin Hotel Group.

Irvin, who recently sold his Newcastle based Belmont Hotel through HTL Property, advised at the time of the sale that his intention was to recycle the capital elsewhere within the asset class. Targeting Queensland as a strong prospect given his family group’s already significant holdings within the State.

“Like the Hotel Steyne, beachside commercial property holdings enjoying a prosperous hospitality function and downstream alternative use levers along the Australian East coast, remain maybe the most sought after of all commercial real estate investment opportunities” commented Jolliffe.

“The campaign procured 8 qualified offers from a range of interstate private and managed fund based investors, and the sale of the Queensland domiciled property to a Sydney based group continues the theme of cross border investment gaining popularity; thanks in part to advancements in the frequency of air travel schedules and management information systems” HTL Property’s National Director Dan Dragicevich believes.

The sale of the Coolangatta Sands Hotel brings the firm’s number of significant freehold hotel sales to 5 for this Financial Year to date, highlighting the deep confidence proponents of both equity and debt have in the asset class.

“The Coolangatta Sands Hotel sale represents the highest price paid for a Sth East Qld freehold hotel asset this year, and underpins our view that significant hospitality assets in gateway or tourism centric regions are as irreplaceable as they are in demand” advised HTL Property’s Qld Director Glenn Price.

HTL Property would not be drawn upon the price paid for the blue-ribbon property, however confirmed the successful sale mirrored pre-campaign market guidance provided by the brokerage firm.

“We’re buoyed by the level of interest the Southern States of both NSW and Victoria had in the asset, and consequently the market remains focused and if anything, now appears to us emboldened by the clarity the political and economic topography consequently provides all participants” commented Dragicevich.

“With continued downward pressure on interest rates, the emerging prevalence of nontraditional sources of funding and the struggle between supply and demand perpetually imbalanced in favour of the latter, we are maintaining our market guidance that yields will contract further before they exhibit any form of augmentation”. “Our firm successfully sold 44 hotels in 52 weeks last Financial Year, and our run rate so far this year is ahead of that; suggesting to us a clear level of purposive market confidence and momentum” concluded Jolliffe.

End.