With southern investors leading the charge for local commercial real estate, Raine & Horne Commercial has today announced the launch of a new office in Townsville.

 Led by Steve Leaumont, who since 2017 has been the principal of the highly successful Raine & Horne Townsville, the Raine & Horne Commercial Townsville team will include prominent local commercial property specialist Peter McCann. 

 Mr Leaumont said, “We had our Executive Chairman Angus Raine here in Townsville recently, and he commented that there are so many opportunities for commercial in Townsville. These opportunities are what I wanted to talk to him about, and that got the ball rolling.”

 The opportunities for Raine & Horne Townsville

 Townsville is the largest city in Northern Australia, is the gateway to mining and agricultural regions, and is perfectly positioned as Australia’s gateway to Asia.  

 Mr Leaumont said the city offers opportunities for investment and development. “Businesses are grabbing these opportunities with open hands, translating to robust demand for commercial real estate across the office, industrial and retail markets. 

 “There are multiple sized properties across office, retail and industrial available, and we want to market those to our clients.”

 He continued, “Having Peter McCann onboard will allow us to offer exclusivity, making each transaction more straightforward for our vendors.”

 Marketing to a current database

 Mr Leaumont says as many as 30%, and maybe more of his residential database, either own a business or are employed by a small business. 

 “There’s a massive opportunity to market commercial properties to clients in our database who have bought or sold homes with us.

 “It’s a great database, and significantly it’s not an old one, and a lot of them are business owners, know business owners, or obviously work with businesses here in Townsville. That’s where the opportunity is huge for Raine & Horne Commercial Townsville.”

 Mr Leaumont continued, “In addition, the recruitment of Peter McCann, who for 21 years was one of Townsville’s highest-profile car dealers, also broadens the scope and breadth of our database.

 “Having grown up in Townsville, Peter is well known throughout our region, and between motoring and commercial real estate, he’s been in sales and marketing for a quarter of a century in this town. 

 “He knows the scope of the economy and the town’s commerce. He is second to none for customer service as he’s an excellent communicator. He’s also well-entrenched within the Townsville community, and we are thrilled that Peter is on our team.”

 Raine & Horne Commercial is a natural next step

 Opening a second office with the Raine & Horne Group was a clear-cut decision for Mr Leaumont. “One hundred per cent it was a natural step. I love what Raine & Horne stands for and represents.

 “Five years ago, I evaluated all the real estate groups and picked Raine & Horne for the same reason I’m moving forward with them in commercial real estate. They are a family business with family values that uses a corporate structure, which is important to me.

 “Raine & Horne is also extremely tech-savvy. The products they’re offering, such as the first-to-market social media marketing platform Amplify, are amazing. So, the tech side of things is just second to none.”

 Mr Leaumont is also excited to join Raine & Horne Commercial’s Queensland network, which includes some of the best in the business. 

 “We’ve got massive offices in Brisbane, including Raine & Horne Commercial North led by Trent Bruce, which wins every award available, and you’ve got out heavyweight Brisbane Southside office led by Joseph Grasso there as well. They are huge. We also have Raine & Horne Commercial Mackay, led by Des Besanko, who does very, very well in commercial real estate in Mackay.”

 The outlook for commercial real estate is perfect

 Mr Leaumont says he is extremely bullish about the prospects for commercial real estate in Townsville.

 “It was very much at the bottom of the cycle for a long time. But activity has climbed rapidly over the last 18 months. This demand is driven by southern investors from Southeast Queensland, NSW and Victoria. 

 “Out of area investors are discovering you can buy an affordable commercial property in north Queensland with a yield of 9% whether it’s a tenanted retail, industrial or office asset. 

 “You can buy a lot more here for $1 million than what you can buy in Sydney or Brisbane, and this is the appeal of Townsville’s commercial real estate. 

 However, stock is getting tighter, putting pressure on yields, so now is the time to snap up a Townsville commercial property, Mr Leaumont advises.

 “Apart from southern investors, business owners such as GPs and other medical professionals are shifting to Townsville for lifestyle reasons and are snapping up vacant commercial properties. 

 “There are also a lot of local owner-occupiers as well buying commercial property. These businesses usually pay rent and are now buying available industrial properties.”

 For all your commercial property sales and leading needs in Townville and surrounding regions, contact Raine & Horne Townsville on 07 4772 1111.