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Being away on a European holiday has not stopped one Melbourne individual from dropping over $6.56 million on a South Melbourne office property.
In a scenario touted as demonstrating the wide-reaching power of social media and digital technologies to facilitate commercial real estate deals, a local owner-occupier – and prominent CBD building owner – had spotted the property on social media while on holiday in Europe.
He then toured it virtually, before making the decision to purchase it for $6.56 million – 24 hours before it was scheduled to go under the hammer.
The building in question was Clarke House – a multi-storey 1,025 square metre commercial building located at 101 Clarke Street, South Melbourne.
With the vendor being former Piping Hot managing director Mark Johannsen, Jones Real Estate noted that the building was for sale as a vacant possession listing, with the property itself atop flexible commercial zoning, which makes it suitable for numerous different business operations.
It was also lauded for its connectivity to key arterials including the Monash Freeway, Melbourne’s CBD and public transport.
Brokered by Jones Real Estate’s Paul Jones and Luke Peric, the pair had reportedly taken on the listing from two other agencies following two unsuccessful expressions of interest campaigns over a combined 300 days.
The pair flagged that prior to the pre-auction sale, the best unconditional offer received by the vendor from the previous two campaigns had been $6 million.
In achieving the eventual $6.56 million price, Mr Jones and Mr Peric revealed they had implemented a digital media-driven campaign, and it also saw them conduct a building repositioning strategy – which saw a rebranding of the asset to Clarke House from its previous listing as 101–105 Clarke Street.
Alongside that, a “refreshed” marketing approach saw them leverage premium video content which was rolled out via paid social media posts to attract international participation.
According to Jones Real Estate, that strategy saw them garner roughly 40,000 views across Facebook and Instagram – and one that ultimately paid off.
Speaking of the sale, Jones Real Estate managing director Paul Jones said their ability to reposition the asset to target owner-occupiers following two unsuccessful sales attempts by other agencies saw them have the property on the market for 38 days.
“We received 49 qualified enquiries during the campaign period, with much of these coming from social and digital media channels,” he highlighted.
For Mr Peric, a senior executive at Jones Real Estate, the transaction hit home “the importance of making a property stand out across digital in the current market”.
Calling the ability to make a property enticing online “crucial to a campaign’s success”, the executive called Clarke House “a prime example of this”.
“Leveraging the power of social media has become a key enabler for amplifying visually enticing marketing assets and is now a core focus in our strategy development. We are thrilled with the outcome this approach has helped us achieve,” he concluded.
According to Jones Real Estate, the property has the potential to achieve rental income of more than $550,000 per annum, excluding GST and outgoings.
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