Auctions worth $29m show investment shift

More than $29 million was generated from the auction of 15 commercial and industrial assets in the past month, with the buyers coming from a range of self-managed super funds and smaller institutions.

The sales were included in Colliers International's winter 2013 national auction portfolio and covered eight assets in Victoria and NSW.

The national director of investment services for Colliers International, Matt Meynell, said low interest rates and volatility on the sharemarket were driving an increase in confidence in property.

"Self-managed super funds and mum and dad investors are chasing an alternate investment strategy to what proved to be so popular during the GFC - the risk-averse fixed-term deposit," Mr Meynell said.

"A current six month term deposit is now providing a 3.6 per cent return on investment ... the security and increasing returns of the old fashioned bricks and mortar are back on the top of investors' wish lists."

Of the assets sold, a mixed-use commercial and retail site, of 2466 square metres, in Wollongong sold for $4.57 million by Colliers International's Viktor Desovski and Marcelo Ramirez.

A 3000-square-metre site at 6 Lancaster Street, Ingleburn, marketed by Harry Bui and Fab Dalfonso, was sold under the hammer for $3.15 million.

Mr Meynell said Victorian properties ranged from a city hair salon and retail properties in the Docklands precinct, to office-warehouses in the north.