Commercial Real Estate Trends In Melbourne's Inner North

For 15 years I have been asked about selling commercial/retail real estate throughout Melbourne. In 2018 I’ve been focusing Melbourne’s inner north. It’s been a successful period (with over $25M in sales!) but I’ve also noticed a few trends developing.

Lately, our campaigns have seen strong enquiry coupled with pricing growth within neighbourhood and secondary retail strips. Major strips like Smith Street in Collingwood, Brunswick Street in Fitzroy and Lygon Street in Carlton have long been on investor’s radar, but it’s been particularly interesting to see how much investor interest has been generated on the secondary strips and in neighbourhoods.

I believe the reason for this is as follows. The increase of interest in these strips is being driven by the increased focus from Melbourne’s young and innovative developers who create modern and alternative residential developments. These suburbs were once the inner industrial areas of Melbourne but the landscape is changing.

With these developments comes a new breed of retail shopper who wants independent cafes and restaurants along with service based retailers to service their needs. This is seeing life drawn back to these once forgotten about retail strips.

 Neighbourhood/secondary strips that I anticipate to see strong capital growth in over the next year include;

-         St Georges Road, Fitzroy North

-         Sydney Road, Coburg

-         Lygon Street, Brunswick East

-       High Street, Northcote

-         Northern end of Smith Street, Collingwood

As Melbourne continues to evolve and develop it will be interesting to see what area will be the next 'it' suburb.