ZACD acquires office building in Melbourne in first foray into Aussie property market

SINGAPORE — Homegrown integrated asset manager ZACD Group said on Thursday (July 20) it has made its first foray into the Australian real estate market with the acquisition of an office building in Melbourne for A$27.3 million (S$29.5 million).

The property is located in the heart of Cheltenham’s commercial precinct, the ‘Bayside Business Employment Area’ south-east of the Melbourne Central Business District. The 52,969 sq ft, three-storey office building sits on a land parcel of about 150,700 sq ft and is currently fully leased out to a single, publicly listed tenant – iSelect Limited, ZACD said.

The net yield for the property is at a relatively high 8.8 per cent, well above the current yield for office properties in the Melbourne CBD of about 5 to 6 per cent. Furthermore, the huge land area provides a significant value-add opportunity of developing an additional office building on the vacant land beside the existing office building, ZACD said.

ZACD, an asset manager that offers integrated solutions across the real estate value chain, said the Melbourne building is the first of several properties that it plans to acquire in the coming months.