The biggest commercial property transactions in Australia of 2019

PHOTO: The retail sector may be in the doldrums but standalone hardware stores have been strong performers in 2019. Photo: Supplied

The number of commercial property deals in 2019 has dwindled below the long-term average despite total transaction values looking set to eclipse those of the year prior, according to new figures.

In 2019, about 640 transactions were recorded in Australia, some 30 per cent lower than the five-year average of 983, preliminary figures from CBRE found.

Total sales for the year are about $37 billion, which is just shy of the $38 billion recorded in 2018, CBRE head of capital markets research Ben Martin-Henry said.

He predicts that 2019 will be on par with the past five years, as there are still a handful of significant deals in the works, so it is likely that 2019 will surpass 2018 levels but not “in any consequential way”.

“The total dollar value, however, masks an underlying quietness in the market as the number of transactions is (about) 30 per cent down on the five-year average,” Mr Martin-Henry said.

“This result indicates that owners have been reluctant to divest assets as they are keenly aware that they will struggle to redeploy the capital raised from divestments.”