Region Group, the country’s biggest owner of smaller suburban malls, has made its first acquisition in almost two years – and its first in Canberra – after paying $74 million for Mirvac’s Cooleman Court shopping centre.

The deal comes amid a resurgence of both private and institutional capital into sub-regional malls and neighbourhood centres, which are typically anchored by a big supermarket and have a high proportion of non-discretionary specialty tenants.