Auckland is leading New Zealand's commercial and industrial property market recovery, with demand from a broadening base of buyers outstripping supply, says John Church, general manager of commercial and industrial for Bayleys Real Estate.
Writing in Bayleys' latest Greater Auckland magazine, containing the agency's first commercial and industrial portfolio for the year, Church says demand is most noticeable for lower-value properties where investor competition is intense, but activity has also picked up at the larger transaction end of the market.
Good-quality properties over $10 million are also finding ready local and offshore buyers, he says.
"Another feature of the Auckland commercial and industrial property market in recent months has been its broadening base of buyers. During the initial stages of the market's recovery, the investment focus was very much on low-risk, well-located and tenanted passive investment properties, and purchasers were willing to accept yields of between 5 per cent and 7 per cent to secure these.
"More recently we have witnessed a return to the market of less risk-averse investors focused more on the added-value opportunities a property might provide," says Church.