JLL hotels & hospitality group, which advised on the Macquarie Hotel sales,  said the second quarter of this year, was characterised by a rush of transactions.

Demand is coming from investors looking to gain exposure to higher-yielding properties and are installing experienced managers to run the business.

Agents said it was a different, more sophisticated investor coming into the pub sector than what occurred in the last rush, from about 2005 until the global financial crisis.

The current spending spree is from cashed-up investors at a time when the lending institutions remain very conservative. Ten years ago, the banks lent more freely and the buyers were not experienced publicans.

Nearly 20 hotels have been sold in metropolitan Sydney since the start of the year in what is being hailed as one of the most frenetic starts to the year since 2007.

The new lockout laws that operate in Sydney's city and surrounding fringe, are also causing a ripple effect to the suburbs. As a result, demand for a neighbourhood pub is on the ascendancy.

Last year, to counteract violence, city-based pubs were forced to impose 1.30am lockouts and 3am last-drinks laws. The legislation is in place throughout the new Sydney CBD Entertainment Precinct, which stretches from parts of Surry Hills and Darlinghurst to The Rocks, and from Kings Cross to Cockle Bay.

JLL's national director of investment sales, John Musca negotiated the Macquarie sale and said that with Liverpool designated as NSW's third city and earmarked for about 500,000 square metres of additional commercial and retail development, the business drivers for this asset are undeniable.

The hotel is in one of the state's fastest growing gaming local government areas and consistently ranks among the best gaming hotels in Sydney.

"Strategically located within the CBD and retail core of Liverpool CBD, it features irreplaceable 24-hour trading attributes, 30 gaming machines and sits on a 1062-square metre site with future development potential," Mr Musca said. "As one of NSW's longest held hotel assets it was owned by long-time private hoteliers for nearly 30 years, so we are delighted to have been associated with this significant transaction."

Mr Musca said in a tightly held asset class, JLL has a pipeline of more than $50 million of further hotel transactions in coming months.

"So with the cost of debt under 4 per cent and hotel trading trajectories extremely robust, the markets' renewed appetite for burgeoning town-centre hotels continues," he said.

The deal comes hot on the heels of last week's Knight Frank and CBRE-managed Oasis Hotel, Campsie sale for a mooted $40 million to a new joint venture involving investment bank Moelis and local private hoteliers Meeres group.

JLL also managed the recent sale of Top 20 gaming hotel, the Crown Hotel at Revesby, for $32 million to Redcape whose US-based investors, Varde and York Capital, are expected to soon launch their much anticipated operating hotel aggregation vehicle.

Industry sources suggested that the timing could not be better for the proposed IPO with the market strength vindicating its consolidation strategy and recognising the quality of  its portfolio.

In other recent deals, the Grand National at Paddington was sold by CBRE and Colliers International, while the Buena Vista at Mosman was sold by Ray White Hotels to the Fallon family.

The Batuea Bay hotel was bought by Arthur Laundy for $11 million through JLL and the Woodport Arms hotel went for $5.4 million through Knight Frank.