Woodside Plaza value takes $80m hit

Woodside Petroleum’s impending exit from its namesake office tower on St Georges Terrace has already affected the building’s value, with its owner, DEXUS Property Group, saying it was now worth $80.4 million less than it was 12 months ago.

Dexus today announced to the ASX that external consultants had revalued 40 of its 102 properties, with the shift in value at Woodside Plaza the most significant reduction across the portfolio.

The group said Woodside Plaza was now valued at $400 million.

Woodside Petroleum's lease expires at the end of 2017, with the oil and gas giant set to move into a new headquarters early in 2018.

Its new building is currently being constructed by Brookfield Multiplex at the Old Emu Brewery site on Mounts Bay Road, on behalf of Malaysian developer AAIG.

Soft leasing conditions in Perth also resulted in writedowns at two other Dexus-owned properties in WA, at 58 Mounts Bay Road and 46 Colin Street in West Perth.

Both of those buildings decreased in value by around $2 million.

Dexus said its three Kings Square towers experienced a slight uplift in value, by $1.5 million to $226.5 million, despite not yet having found a tenant for the largest building, KS1.

Over the entire portfolio, Dexus said the revaluations had resulted in an estimated $450 million, or 4.8 per cent, uplift in book values.

Chief executive Darren Steinberg said the increase in the portfolio’s value overall was due in part to recent leasing successes, particularly in the Sydney office market.