Auckland-based DNZ Property has entered into a deal with Antipodean Supermarkets and Antipodean Properties to buy 19 Countdown supermarket sites for $NZ287 million.

The nationwide portfolio of supermarkets is leased to General Distributors Limited, the operator of Countdown supermarkets in New Zealand and an ultimate subsidiary of Woolworths Limited.

The majority of the supermarkets were subject to new 20 year leases and rights of renewal giving General Distributors Limited security of tenure for up to 50 years.

“The highly competitive nature of the sale process was a clear demonstration of the weight of capital seeking New Zealand retail assets,” said, Stuart McCann, who handled the sale from JLL.

“We can equate the unsuccessful bidders to an aggregate of close to $NZD3 billion which reflects a significant level of unsatisfied demand from offshore and onshore sources,”

The New Zealand retail investment market had a record year in 2014, recording more than NZD2 billion of sales, exceeding the previous record set in 2010 and increasing almost five fold on 2013 transaction volume.”

A key driver of this investment activity is New Zealand’s strong economic backdrop for investment.

GDP grew by 3.5 percent during 2014, the population is growing at 1.4 per cent per annum, and house prices grew more than eight per cent nationwide over the last year. These factors are flowing through to consumer spending with retail sales growing by 5.5 per cent during the year to June 2015.