Agnew Group has doubled down on the Sapphire Coast, adding Moruya Waterfront Hotel to its stable.
Moruya is a coastal town of around 5k residents, roughly 300 kilometres south of Sydney or 200 south-east of Canberra, straddling the fertile Moruya River.
The Hotel boasts expansive views up and down the waterway and of the nearby hinterland. Holding a 2am liquor licence it provides public bar, bistro, gaming room with eight machines (entitlements) and a sprawling riverside beer garden, alongside 22 motel rooms and a bottleshop, all on a generous 5,422sqm lot.
The freehold has been held for years by a local investor, but late 2025 the tenant vacated and management was installed to operate it on a temporary basis. The owner considered the state of the market and determined to put the asset to market in February.
Canberra-based Agnew Group already owned and operated the nearby Hive Motel, in Moruya, and another pub in Bombala.
Moruya is seeing major activity with ongoing construction of the new $330 million Eurobodalla Hospital, near the Hotel, due to be completed in 2027. It is expected to generate major demand for proximate accommodation both during its construction and once completed.
Agnew have plans to renovate and uplift the rooms to make the most of the elevated trade.
The group has signed for the freehold going concern for a sale price understood to be circa $6 million, which is in line with expectations when it was sent to market.
This marks the second asset sold on the Sapphire Coast this year, after Ned Kelly picked up the freehold going concern of the Narooma Hotel in February.
Sale of the Moruya Waterfront was also managed by HTL Property, agents Blake Edwards and Ben Kennedy remarking “truly waterside hotels” are not often for sale.
“We were not at all surprised by how well the asset was received by the market during the sale process, with multiple buyers contesting the sale,” says Edwards.
