Armidale’s Railway Hotel has sold for around $8 million, becoming the latest venue in the New South Wales regional town to change hands amid a bubbling period for the sector.
HTL Property’s Xavier Plunkett managed the sale of the freehold going concern, via the freehold interest on behalf of Brett Groundwater, and the leasehold interest for Charlie Redmond of Hospitality Dynamics, both off-market.
The Railway Hotel offering included a 3,800 sqm commercial property allotment, with dual street frontages and 30 car parks on title.
The full-format pub features a drive-through bottle shop, bistro, public bar, beer garden, gaming room and DA approval for a 16-room motel located in immediate proximity to the Armidale Hospital.
“Outside the highly desirable yields on offer in regional areas, increased regional migration, regional infrastructure spending, a quick turnaround post CV-19 lockdown measures; and a robust agriculture-led rural economy, are all major drivers of the positive sentiment orbiting the regional hotel space” Plunkett said.
This year Armidale has also seen Jim Knox has buy the Whitebull Hotel, with the $13.25 million transaction setting a record price for the town, while the Roche Group bought the Royal Hotel for more than $5 million.
HTL Property says it has sold 15 freehold hotels in the wider New England region totalling over $70 million in the past 18 months.
Demand for regional pub assets was recently recorded by Real Capital Analytics as increasing by 135%, with the segment sales up nearly half of the national transaction volume, and deals are continuing apace heading into the final stretches of 2021. Three regional NSW hotels have just been snapped up by prominent publicans, while the Laundy family has expanded its patch on the NSW south coast with the acquisition of the Cabbage Tree Hotel.
