• Buyer: a Charter Hall managed fund
• Seller: Garda Property Group (ASX: GDF)
• Price: $300 million for the portfolio
• Size: about 90,600 sqm of lettable area
• Suburbs: Acacia Ridge, Wacol, Richlands, Berrinba and Morningside
• Tenants named: Volvo, O'Brien Glass, CNW and Ausdeck
• WALE: about 4.5 years
• Average annual rent increases: 3.4 per cent
• Settlement: most assets on 20 November 2026; Morningside around March 2027, subject to due diligence
• Announced: 22 October 2026

Garda's filing lists seven properties. Charter Hall describes six, because it treats the two Acacia Ridge holdings as a single asset. The reported prices add up to the $300 million headline:

• 326-340 Thynne Road, Morningside: $80.7 million. The biggest single price in the deal, still subject to due diligence.
• 38 and 69 Peterkin Street, Acacia Ridge: $68.5 million combined.
• 41 Bivouac Place, Wacol: $51.8 million. A 3.3 hectare site leased to Volvo.
• Pinnacle West, 498 Progress Road, Wacol: $44 million. A 4.1 hectare estate with about 17,525 sqm of buildings.
• 56-72 Bandara Street, Richlands: $37.9 million. Leased to Australian manufacturer Ausdeck.
• 1-9 Kellar Street, Berrinba: $17.1 million.

Across the whole portfolio the price works out to roughly $3,300 per sqm of lettable area. That is an average across very different buildings, from older estates to Garda's newer Acacia Ridge stock, so it is a guide rather than a benchmark for any one site.

The portfolio is a cross-section of the Brisbane industrial map. Morningside sits in the inner east, close to the Gateway Motorway, the port and the TradeCoast. Acacia Ridge is one of the city's most established southern industrial suburbs, served by the interstate rail terminal and the Ipswich and Logan motorways. Wacol and Richlands sit in the south west corridor where much of Brisbane's distribution demand has moved over the past decade. Berrinba is in the Logan end of the southern corridor, near the Logan Motorway.

Peterkin Street has become a Charter Hall street in its own right. In September the group bought the Symbion healthcare and pharmaceutical distribution centre at 51 Peterkin Street for $47.75 million. Garda finished stage two of its Acacia Ridge development at 38-56 Peterkin Street in December 2024, adding about 14,777 sqm of new space. Buying both Garda holdings gives Charter Hall a meaningful cluster on one well-known industrial street.

Charter Hall Industrial and Logistics chief executive Richard Stacker said the purchase lifts the group's exposure to "established Brisbane industrial precincts". The group pointed to pricing below replacement cost and to passing rents that sit under assessed market rents. Put simply, the buyer thinks it is paying less than it would cost to build the same estates now. It also sees room to lift rents as leases roll over.

The deal also fits a pattern. In September Charter Hall bought three south east Queensland logistics assets for a combined $192.4 million, leased to Australia Post, PrixCar and Symbion. It also formed an industrial partnership with Tokyo Tatemono and UBS Asset Management targeting $1.2 billion. Group chief executive David Harrison said the recent deals would help take Charter Hall's Queensland funds under management to about $15 billion. Its national industrial and logistics platform is valued at about $24.9 billion.

The appeal for a large fund is easy to see:

• a portfolio deal delivers scale in one transaction instead of seven separate campaigns
• a 4.5 year WALE gives income certainty without locking in today's rents for too long
• rents below market create a path to growth as leases are renewed
• infill land in established Brisbane suburbs is scarce and cannot easily be replicated

Garda's reasoning is just as clear. The group has argued that the gap between industrial capitalisation rates, government bond yields and funding costs has narrowed. That leaves owners exposed to valuation risk if rental growth does not keep coming. Its securities had also been trading at a steep discount to net tangible assets, which made it hard to grow as a listed landlord.

Combined with earlier sales, Garda is offloading all nine of its investment properties for expected gross proceeds of $350.8 million. It has contracted to sell a Heathwood property to The Landrich Trust for $17.5 million and a 4.05 hectare Pinkenba property to 2MB Co for $33.25 million. Garda had valued the nine-property portfolio at $340.6 million at 30 June 2026.

The proceeds will repay its syndicated debt facility, which was drawn to about $185.3 million. That should leave around $176.6 million of surplus cash and about $321 million of total investable capital once existing loan receivables are counted. Garda says it will put that money mainly into real estate lending, while keeping the option to own or develop property again when the returns justify it.

Investors were given a reason to like the pivot. Garda lifted FY27 funds from operations guidance by 19 per cent to 12.5 cents per security and distribution guidance by 39 per cent, from 9 cents to 12.5 cents.

The Garda sale lands in a busy year for Brisbane industrial property:

• 51 Peterkin Street, Acacia Ridge: Charter Hall paid $47.75 million for the Symbion facility in September, part of its $192.4 million three-asset purchase. That deal priced at around $3,700 per sqm, a little above the Garda portfolio average.
• Acacia Gate Industrial Estate: Kanden Realty and Corval bought the estate from Dexus in June at roughly $2,200 per sqm, a reminder of how much age, building quality and lease profile move the rate.
• 44 Potassium Street, Narangba: a manufacturing plant in Moreton Bay sold for $17.4 million on a sharp 4.13 per cent yield earlier this month.
• Rochdale Industrial Estate: part of the 1.3 million sqm Sydney and Brisbane portfolio that Goodman agreed to take full control of in June for $2.65 billion.

The common thread is that institutional money is still hunting for Brisbane industrial exposure, from small owner-occupier sized assets up to multi-billion dollar portfolios.

Leasing conditions have softened a little as new warehouses complete. JLL measured Brisbane industrial vacancy at 4.8 per cent in the September quarter, up from 4.5 per cent. It expects the rise to be short lived as demand builds ahead of the 2032 Olympics. Cushman and Wakefield's measure was lower at 3.1 per cent, with annual rental growth of 4 per cent, ahead of the national figure.

Either way, vacancy remains low by historical standards. That is why a fund like Charter Hall is happy to buy older, fully leased estates with rents below market. The bet is not on rapid rental growth across the board. It is on the steady advantage of well-located land close to motorways, rail and the port.

For smaller owners there are a few takeaways. A $300 million portfolio sale to a top-tier fund supports values for comparable assets in Acacia Ridge, Wacol, Richlands and Morningside. It also confirms that the gap between new and older stock is a matter of pricing rather than demand: buyers will take both, they just pay very different rates.

• Know your rent position. Charter Hall's case rests on passing rents sitting below market. Owners selling under-rented assets should show buyers that upside clearly and early.
• Replacement cost is a selling point. With construction costs where they are, an established estate priced below the cost of a new build is a story worth telling with numbers.
• Clusters carry weight. Peterkin Street shows how a buyer values a group of assets on one street. Neighbouring owners can benefit from that interest.
• Presentation still matters at scale. Even in a portfolio deal, clear site plans, aerials, tenancy schedules and visuals of any future stages help buyers price quickly and with confidence.

The first milestone is settlement of most of the portfolio on 20 November 2026. The second is Morningside. The $80.7 million Thynne Road contract is still subject to due diligence, with settlement pencilled in for around March 2027, so it is the piece most worth watching.

Beyond that, watch how quickly Charter Hall moves on leasing as the Garda tenancies roll over and whether its new Tokyo Tatemono and UBS partnership adds more Brisbane estates. And watch Garda's first moves as a lender. With more than $300 million to deploy, it could become a meaningful source of finance for south east Queensland developers just as the Olympic build cycle picks up.