Herron Todd White Cairns Month in Review - Retail

In their monthly review Herron Todd White has decided to close the year with an analysis of the retail sector. Like the property market, shop owners in Cairns have experienced very difficult trading conditions for almost 3 years now with sporadic international tourism arrival numbers and low levels of expenditure throughout the region.

With the development of new international markets and a trend increase in tourists gracing our shores, we can expect 2012 to be a year of recovery for the retail sector however there still remains a good deal of ground to recover from the level of arrivals and subsequent expenditure seen in the most recent glory days for Cairns pre-GFC.

HTW Review Text:
The Cairns retail market has progressively faded since the start of 2008 as a result of the local economic downturn leading to reductions in consumer and tourism spending. Though we now perceive the Cairns retail market to be at or near the bottom of the cycle, the slow state of the economic recovery in Cairns means that the retail property market has remained flat during 2011. It must be also said that retail property sales in Cairns are extremely sporadic, with most sales involving retail property being of mixed use retail / office buildings or tenant buyouts of single premises.

Cairns Central Shopping Centre

This year saw Lend Lease become the sole owner of the Cairns Central shopping centre after paying $261 million to buy the 50% stake held by former joint owner Westfield. This sale, which took place in October, represents the first major retail property transaction of any significance in Cairns since the $29 million sale of the Raintrees shopping centre in October 2008. Two retail developments also commenced construction during the year, these being a $50 million extension to the Mt Sheridan Plaza shopping centre, and a $20 million Woolworths Masters Hardware centre in Portsmith.

We have seen an increase in vacancy levels in the retail sector resulting from a number of business closures attributed to the tough economic environment. However the increase has only been a relatively mild increment to the high levels of long term vacancies in some areas that pre-dated the downturn. High exposure CBD space remains well occupied, with vacancies most noticeable in the lesser exposure locations and/or on the CBD fringe. Rents have generally been static, showing ranges of $600 to $1,000 per sqm per annum for prime CBD space, and $1,000 to $2,500 per sqm per annum in key tourist precincts such as the Cairns Esplanade.

Read Herron Todd White's national Month In Review HERE

Peter Musso - Ray White Cairns Beaches - Real estate agent selling property in Trinity Beach, Kewarra Beach, Clifton Beach, Palm Cove, Trinity Park, Smithfield, Yorkeys Knob, Holloways Beach, Machans Beach