A major shopping centre investor has stopped buying retail property in Victoria, citing escalating theft and violence across the state’s stores as a growing risk to investment.

Chris Garnaut, founder of Fawkner Property, which has a $5 billion shopping centre network, said theft at the group’s Victorian centres had reached its highest level and that the company would no longer acquire retail assets in the state.

Garnaut told The Australian that if Fawkner were to consider another Victorian acquisition, the capitalisation rate, a measure used to assess property returns, would need to be 150 basis points more attractive than in other states.

His comments come as new Crime Statistics Agency figures show 96,008 offences were recorded at Victorian retail locations in the 12 months to June 2026. That equates to 263 offences a day, or approximately one every five-and-a-half minutes, and represents the second-highest annual total in the past decade.

Theft from stores reached a record 37,398 offences, up 2.3 per cent and equivalent to 102 incidents each day. Another 5,120 assault offences were recorded at retail locations, averaging 14 a day.

The issue is also drawing concern from some of Australia’s biggest retailers. Myer chief executive Olivia Wirth said retail crime was a major issue for the sector and identified metropolitan Melbourne as the company’s worst crime hot spot.

Outgoing Bunnings boss Mike Schneider also criticised Victoria’s workplace protection order framework, describing the absence of interim orders as a missed opportunity. Bunnings said Victoria accounted for 54 per cent of its threats of death or harm and weapon-related incidents, as well as around 36 per cent of repeat-customer threatening events during the period cited.

Coles and Woolworths have raised similar concerns about the lack of interim workplace protection orders, arguing employees could remain exposed to known repeat offenders while waiting for courts to make a final decision. Woolworths said it recorded more than 7,000 violent incidents nationally in 2025, with more than 3,000 involving its Victorian teams. Around 200 Victorian incidents involved edged weapons.

Victoria’s Workplace Protection Orders Act received royal assent earlier this month. The legislation establishes civil orders that can restrict people who repeatedly engage in violence, sexual abuse, stalking or threatening behaviour from entering specified retail and transport workplaces.

The government rejected amendments that would have introduced interim workplace protection orders. It has instead committed to an operational review nine months after the scheme begins to determine whether an interim mechanism should be added.

Despite the record level of store theft, overall offences at retail locations fell 3 per cent year-on-year. Assault offences declined 6.1 per cent, while stalking, harassment and threatening behaviour fell 6.8 per cent.

Australian Retail Council chief executive Chris Rodwell said the record number of thefts remained a serious concern for the industry, while retailers continue to push for stronger measures to protect workers and address repeat offending.