Institutional investors are emerging as dominant buyers of supermarket-anchored neighbourhood malls in the post-COVID-19 age, replacing the traditional buyers of such assets, cashed-up private investors.

Of the five major retail centres to have sold since the onset of the pandemic, four were bought by major ASX-listed property players, two by mall landlord Home Consortium and two by fund manager Primewest, according to a report by valuation and advisory firm m3property.