Gunning Real Estate Principal Malcolm Gunning said two traditional retail investments in Kingsgrove and Beverley Hills sold under the hammer last month.

“Both the properties saw unprecedented demand and sold substantially above the reserve price,” Mr Gunning said.

“The properties were both in a well established residential prescient and priced between $2 million and $3 million. We saw approximately 200 enquiries and 90 contracts issued with 100 people attending the auctions.”

“The property at 264 Kingsgrove Road, Kingsgrove, which is leased by House Essentials, sold for $3,541,000 and 437-441 King Georges Road, Beverly Hills leased by Eat GRK sold for $3,705,000.

“The interested parties were not foreign investors but older local investment families,” Mr Gunning said. “We are seeing an increase in interest from the more traditional suburban commercial investors, because the banks have loosened up the lending on retail, industrial and commercial property and the very low interest for cash terms deposits.

“The residential market has also come off the boil and investors have more confidence in regard to retail and commercial, bricks and mortar investments.

“A 3-4 per cent net yield is much better than the 2 per cent you will get from the bank. A retail investment of $2 million to $3 million for a property within 20km of Sydney is not a lot of money for these types of investors who are looking for a standalone property.

“We expect this sort of interest to continue, with Cooley Auctions highlighting a 71 per cent commercial auction clearance rate for the third quarter of 2015/2016. This is a considerable increase and shows how strong the market is for those seeking to invest.

“There is less commercial property available at the moment and traditional family investors are going to continue to seek commercial and retail investments,” Mr Gunning said.