Westfield Sydney group's most valuable but Wollongong and North Rocks suburban malls delivering highest returns

By Larry Schlesinger
Monday, 20 August 2012

Interim results for the Westfield Retail Trust reveal that Westfield Sydney, the group’s flagship Australian store, is the most valuable, worth $1.34 billion, but it is two of its smallest centres that are delivering the strongest returns.

Westfield Retail Trust is Australia’s largest real estate investment trust (REIT) comprising Westfield’s portfolio of Australian and New Zealand shopping centres.

The trust recorded half-year profits after-tax for the six months to June 30 of $417 million, with 1,400 leasing transactions recorded across the portfolio of 52 malls in Australian and New Zealand.

Westfield Figtree at 19 Princess Highway in West Wollongong, which is valued at $75 million, and Westfield North Rocks in Sydney’s outer west (valued at $59 million) are both returning an estimated yield of 7.5% as of June 30 this year.

Westfield Figtree recorded $9,048 per square metre in retail speciality sales, while North Rocks managed $6,914.

Westfield Figtree has 22,000 square metres of retail space with 94 stores, while North Rocks measures 23,000 square metres with 92 stores.

In comparison, Westfield Chermside in Brisbane – the largest store – has 146,000 square metres of retail space and 415 stores.

Both stores are strongly outperforming the total Australian Westfield portfolio, worth just over $12 billion, which has an estimated yield of 5.9%.

Westfield Sydney (40,000 square metres of retail space) has an estimated retail yield of 5.13% while the next most valuable shopping centre, Westfield Bondi Junction (129,000 square metres), valued at just over $1 billion has an estimated yield of $5.25%.

Here’s a breakdown of Westfield top ten performing centres based on their yield estimates as of June 30: