A modern convenience store in St Albans, Hertfordshire, guided at a 5.67% yield is expected to tap into continued strong demand for the asset class at Allsop Commercial’s March sale.
The store, let to Co-operative Food until 2032 with no breaks, is being offered at £1.5m. “This is exactly what the private investors want to buy,” said partner and auctioneer George Walker.
It is one of 14 convenience stores in the catalogue of 163 lots for the 30 March sale, up from just over 100 investments offered this time last year. “We are seeing more churn now,” Walker said.
Out-of-town retail lots include a retail warehouse let to discount home and garden retailer B&M in Ebbw Vale, Gwent, guided at £3.25m-£3.35m, an 8.49% yield. Walker said the covenant performed well at auction. In Cheltenham, a large retail store close to a Tesco superstore and let to Dave Whelan Sports is guided at £3m, a yield of 8.36%.
A high street lot in Newbury, Berkshire, is offered at a 9.19% yield. The two shops, guided at £1.3m-£1.4m, are let to EE and The Edinburgh Woollen Mill.
The highest-priced asset on offer is a freehold office investment in Hertford, guided at £3.7m-£3.8m, a yield of 8.29%. The multilet property on the Foxholes Business Park occupies a 1.6-acre site, including a large car park.
It is made up of 18 office units, six of which have already been sold off. Most of the remaining 12 units have leases due to expire within the next two to four years, while one is holding over, and currently produce more than £300,000 pa. The asset has come to auction having failed to sell through private treaty.
