Specialist national brokerage firm, HTL Property, announce the sale of the Victor Harbor Holiday Park; located in South Australia’s popular Fleurieu Peninsula, and following a competitive sale campaign.

The sales process for the quality investment grade park asset was contested by Sydney based syndicates, unlisted funds with strong existing exposure to the holiday park sector, as well as listed funds active in the space; and ultimately selling to Hampshire Property Group.

HTL’s National Director of Accommodation brokerage, Andrew Jackson, managed the sale on behalf of private owners for a price that remains confidential.

The substantial holiday asset sits across an 8.16 hectare site and comprises 355 sites; including over 50 tourist cabins, complemented by an extensive range of high quality facilities incorporating two resort-style pools, a water park, pump track, mini golf, jumping pillow, playground, outdoor cinema, 2x camp kitchens, BBQ areas, a café, and two manager's residences.

The successful purchaser, Hampshire Property Group, is an Australian family-owned business which has been steadily growing its portfolio of quality tourist accommodation assets around Australia; with a strong leaning towards the holiday park and resort sector.

"We are delighted to add this quality park asset to our portfolio, which is already extremely popular with South Australians; and in doing so continuing the magnificent work of Andrew Chapman" advised Hamphire Property Group CEO, Frank Sharkey.

“It is a wonderful region and we have been seeking to gain a foothold here for some time. So we are looking forward to getting to know the local community and the local tourism industry stakeholders, as we explore opportunities to further enhance the offering for visitors and draw a wider audience from around the country to this wonderful location” said Sharkey.

”There has been a lot of consolidation within the holiday park sector over recent years, as the sector has become increasingly institutionalised”.

“This has resulted in several dominant players within the sector, and fewer investment grade park assets remaining in the hands of owner operators" advised HTL Property National Accommodation Director, Andrew Jackson.

“The interest received in this asset sale was representative of this fact, however we also received strong participation from newcomers to the sector in the form of private syndicates and high net worth individuals being represented by operators; who were simply attracted to the broad fundamentals and aware that going forward, opportunities to enter would become harder and harder to uncover" Jackson added.

Accommodation assets, and in particular holiday parks, are in strong demand driven by the revival of the tourism market as well as the economic pressures being experienced by households. Australians, more than ever before, are keen to explore their own backyard; an emerging trend which is largely being driven by rising costs of living and the high costs of airfares. Travel behaviours are changing as travellers are not just choosing to stay domestic, but are also choosing to stay local and travel shorter distances. In addition, once there, the modern domestic traveller will holiday for longer periods of time.

According to the Caravan Industry Association of Australia 79% of people are actively planning to not just travel, but to specifically go camping or caravan-ing within the next six months. Further, despite international travel now being again allowed, 56% of Australians plan to ‘holiday here this year’. This bodes extremely well for the domestic tourism market.

“Speaking to operators of holiday parks, the demand for holiday park accommodation has never been stronger. Last year’s average national occupancy rate for cabins and campsites was significantly up from pre 2019 levels" advised Jackson.

According to Tourism Research Australia, the revenue generated per site in holiday parks grew by almost 20% across Australia for the year ending December 2022. NSW and QLD holiday parks took the lead with revenue per site increasing by 43% and 37%, respectively. The significant increases in trading and profits are in turn, attracting investors to the asset class.

"This data is incredibly insightful about the economic fundamentals of the asset class, the broad attraction toit and our ongoing confidence in the sector despite the changing market conditions more broadly" believes Jackson.

‘The pricing achieved analyses to a sharp yield, testament to the market's ongoing confidence in the sector” Jackson concluded.