The sales campaign of four Woolworths supermarkets should be a measure of the rising confidence in Australia's food retailing sector, JLL says.

 JLL’s Jacob Swan and Nick Willis have been appointed to sell Woolworths Bakewell via an expressions of interest campaign, with a trio of other high-performing centres from the supermarket group also hitting the market.

Mr Swan said the assets had come on the market at a time of significant investment activity, which had carried on from the fourth quarter of 2019.

“Notably in the past six months we have seen a real shift in investor demand towards neighbourhood centres from both local and offshore privates and larger institutions looking to get scale, given their defensive non-discretionary nature and annuity-style return," he said.

According to JLL Research, neighbourhood centre investments were $1.3 billion in 2019 or 21 per cent of total retail transactions, nationally.

While the share of total transactions was consistent with the last five years, activity was down 30 per cent year-on-year in value terms, partly reflecting a shortage of available stock for sale.

Mr Willis said there remained deep pockets of liquidity in the retail sector.

"The has been notable demand for neighbourhood assets up to $100 million to $150 million driven by both private investors and syndicates," he said.

"We have experienced a resurgence of investor demand from these groups (private investors and syndicates) and offshore investors with active management expertise who are attracted to the risk-adjusted returns on offer in comparison to other real estate sectors."

Situated in the inner suburbs of Palmerston North, about 25 kilometres south-east of Darwin, Woolworths Bakewell includes a 4800 square metre Woolworths and a BWS liquor store, 12 specialty shops and 287 car spaces.

Mr Willis said a high level of interest was anticipated from both national and offshore investors.

“The supermarket trades at phenomenal levels some 51 per cent above the national average, demonstrating the success and precision of the Woolworths strategy," he said.

"Assets of this performance are rarely traded and typically held as generational investments."

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