Investors have snapped up a handful of shopping centre assets worth almost $200 million in the past week alone, laying bare the attraction of bricks-and-mortar retail underpinned by essential services.

A wealthy Malaysian family last week paid $50 million for the Coles-anchored Torquay Village shopping centre south of Geelong, marking a 25 per cent premium on the $40 million fund manager IP Generation purchased it for just over two years ago.