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Aerial drone view of a large-format retail centre with anchor stores, arterial road frontage and full car park
Commercial & Industrial Buyer's Advocacy

Commercial &
Industrial

Commercial and industrial buyer's advocacy for income-producing property. We help buyers source, assess and negotiate office, retail, medical, industrial, logistics, mixed-use and development-site briefs. Each asset is tested against lease quality, yield, tenant risk, capex, planning controls and market evidence before offer.

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National Agent Network
Tenant Covenant Reviewed
Long-Term Leases
Multi-Asset Strategy
Off-Market Access
What We Source

Commercial Asset Classes

Across Australia's major markets and emerging hubs, sourced off-market through top-tier selling agents.

Large-format retail and homemaker centre
Large-Format Retail

Bulky Goods & Homemaker Centres

Homemaker and bulky-goods anchors on long leases with national tenants. High-traffic, low-churn formats built for durable cashflow.

Retail property and shopping centre
Retail

Shopping Centres & High Street

Neighbourhood, suburban and flagship retail. Strong tenant mix, underutilised value-add opportunities, and community anchors.

Industrial warehouse and logistics facility
Industrial & Logistics

Warehousing & Distribution

Strategic logistics hubs, modern e-commerce facilities, and manufacturing-grade properties. Supply chain resilience and yield focus.

Neighbourhood shops anchoring a suburban town centre
Neighbourhood Retail

Strip Shops & Local Centres

Neighbourhood strips, anchor-and-specialty centres, and metropolitan corner retail. Resilient daily-needs tenants in established catchments.

Heritage mixed-use precinct with ground-floor retail and apartments above
Mixed-Use

Integrated Developments

Retail-office combinations, hotel-retail hybrids, and lifestyle precincts. Diversified income streams and placemaking value.

Open vacant land parcel with tree line, development site ready for rezoning
Development Sites

Land & Future Growth

Strategic vacant land, sites with development potential, and pre-zoning opportunities. Value creation through entitlements.

Commercial property negotiation
Our Approach

Your Commercial
Advantage

Written due diligence covering title, lease, planning, building, market and financial assumptions, applied at private-buyer scale. Buyer briefs are circulated to CBRE, JLL, Colliers, Knight Frank, Cushman & Wakefield, Stonebridge, Burgess Rawson and the regional and boutique commercial agencies that hold relevant stock, surfacing opportunities before they reach the open market where the asset and brief warrant it.

  • Off-Market Sourcing: Pre-listing and quiet-campaign briefs across every major and boutique commercial agency network nationally
  • Lease & Covenant Analysis: Full lease abstract, WALE-weighted income modelling, option/make-good liability, outgoings recovery review, tenant covenant scoring
  • Building Condition & Capex: Independent building consultants for Schedule of Condition, ten-year capex forecast, and statutory compliance gaps
  • Environmental & Site: Phase 1 / Phase 2 contamination assessment, asbestos register review, and EPA notification search
  • Market Context: Cap-rate spread vs sector and sub-market comparables, recent sales evidence, supply pipeline within 5km
  • Independent Valuation: Pre-purchase desktop valuation cross-checked against agent appraisal and our own DCF model
  • Legal Due Diligence: Title, encumbrances, easements, caveats, planning compliance, heritage, and special use overlays
"Every commercial recommendation should show its working, comparables, lease evidence, yield assumptions, tenant risk, planning controls, capex risk and settlement conditions. The buyer should be able to see why a property is being recommended, not just that it is available."
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Investment Criteria

Investment criteria, defined per brief

The right commercial asset depends on the brief. For some clients, the priority is long WALE and income certainty. For others, it is reversion, redevelopment potential, tenant repositioning or yield spread. We define the investment criteria with you before going to market, targets below are illustrative ranges from past briefs, not universal rules.

Defined per brief
WALE & Reversion

Lease length vs. reversion strategy

Long-WALE briefs target income certainty; reversion briefs accept a shorter lease tail to reset rents at market. Neither is "better", the brief decides. We model both the lease-tail risk and the reversion upside before recommending.

Cap rate vs. covenant
Net Yield & Cap Rate

The yield only makes sense alongside the covenant

A 7% yield from a private single-tenant on a 1-year option is not equivalent to a 5.5% yield from an ASX-listed national on 8 years firm. We stress-test yields against tenant covenant, lease structure, capex liability and debt assumptions before signing off.

National agent coverage
Sourcing

Where briefs go

Buyer briefs reach the major firms (CBRE, JLL, Colliers, Knight Frank, Cushman & Wakefield) and regional/boutique agencies who hold relevant stock for the asset class. We do not publish an agent-database count because direct principal relationships matter more than database size.

Independent
DD & Valuation

Independent due diligence

Title, lease, planning, building condition, capex, environmental and market evidence, written up, sourced and timestamped. Specialist inspections (building, environmental, valuation) commissioned independently of the selling side.

All states
Geography

National reach

Active across every Australian capital city and the regional centres where commercial briefs make sense. Buyer-side mandates only, we do not also act for vendors or developers on the same transaction.

Brief-led
Tenant & Concentration

Covenant scored against strategy

Credit profile of occupiers (ASX-listed, private, government), single- vs. multi-tenant structure, sector exposure. The acceptable covenant range varies by brief, a defensive income brief and a reversion brief score the same tenant differently.

In plain language

Key commercial terms, defined

These three terms drive most commercial pricing. We assume nothing about prior familiarity.

WALE

Weighted Average Lease Expiry. The remaining lease term across all tenants in the property, weighted by how much rent each tenant pays. A WALE of 6 years means, on a rent-weighted basis, the average tenant has 6 years left on their lease. Higher WALE generally means more income certainty.

Cap rate

Capitalisation rate. Net annual rent divided by the purchase price, expressed as a percentage. A 6% cap rate means the property's net income is 6% of what you paid. Lower cap rates usually reflect better leases, stronger tenants or better locations; higher cap rates compensate for risk.

Tenant covenant

How reliable the tenant's income is. An ASX-listed national chain on a long lease is a "strong covenant". A private single operator on a month-to-month option is a "weak covenant". Covenant strength is one of the biggest drivers of the price a property commands, sometimes more than the building itself.

Methodology

Data-driven acquisitions

Every commercial recommendation should show its working: comparable sales, lease evidence, yield assumptions, tenant risk, planning controls, capex risk and settlement conditions. The buyer should be able to see why a property is being recommended, not just that it is available.

Comparable sales evidence
Sourced + dated, per recommendation
Lease & yield benchmarks
Cross-checked against published series
Planning & overlay data
State planning portals + council
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DD checklist items

Quick suburb lookup

Search a suburb to see recent comparable evidence we hold. Coverage is national but uneven, we will tell you if the dataset is too thin for the brief.

Off-market
access
Where the brief warrants it
Independent
research
Buyer-side mandate only
National
coverage
All states & territories
Current market
evidence
Comparable sales & yields
The Process

From Brief to Settlement

01

Strategy

Goals, brief, criteria

02

Source

Off-market network

03

Due Diligence

Full risk analysis

04

Settle

12-step settlement

Modern commercial portfolio investment

"Written due diligence. Independent advice. Current market evidence."

That's how we run commercial briefs.

What we deliver

Sample DD output

A worked example of the kind of artifacts you receive on a commercial buyer's-side engagement. Figures are illustrative, an anonymised composite of past briefs, not an active offering.

01. Lease abstract

Sub-regional homemaker tenant, NSW metro

TenantASX-listed national homemaker retailer (parent guarantee)
Initial term7 years (commenced Jul 2024)
Options2 x 5 years (tenant exercisable, 6-month notice)
Current rent$385 psm net (~$1.24M pa over 3,225 sqm GLA)
ReviewsAnnual CPI +1%, fixed minimum 3.5%
Option reviewMarket review on each option exercise (cap 12%)
OutgoingsTenant pays 100% of OPEX (land tax single-holding, capped at $48k pa)
Make goodPainted-shell return; specialist fit-out removable
AssignmentLandlord consent not to be unreasonably withheld
Bank guarantee3 months gross rent (current ~$340k)
02. Risk table

DD risk register

RiskRatingRationale
Tenant covenantLowASX-listed parent, FY25 net debt/EBITDA 1.4x, 138 stores trading. Parent guarantee in place.
Lease tail / reversionLow6.2 years firm + options. Rent ~5% below market, option reviews will close the gap.
Capex liability (10-yr)MediumRoof and HVAC at ~18 years, replacement budget of $385k landlord-side identified by independent building consultant.
Planning / overlayLowB6 Enterprise Corridor, no heritage or flood overlay. Bulky goods use permitted with consent (current).
EnvironmentalMediumAdjacent former service-station site, Phase 1 ESA clean for subject lot; vendor warranty added to contract for prior contamination liability.
Market evidenceLow9 comparable bulky-goods sales in the catchment over the prior 24 months. Yield band 6.10–6.85% net; subject pricing at 6.45%.
03. Offer rationale

Why we recommended $18.6M at 6.45% net

Asking price $19.2M (6.25% net). Comparable evidence (9 bulky-goods sales, 24 months) sits 6.10–6.85% net; subject is mid-band on covenant strength but carries identified roof/HVAC capex of $385k over 10 years.

We discounted the capex liability against price ($385k face value, ~$310k NPV at 7%) and tightened from asking by 3.1%. At $18.6M / 6.45% net the buyer is paying a 20bp premium over the median comparable, justified by parent-guaranteed national covenant, fixed 3.5% rent reviews and tenant-pays OPEX.

Conditions added: vendor contamination warranty (adjacent service-station legacy), independent valuation at or above $18.6M for finance, and roof works to commence in year 2 with a $200k landlord rebate negotiated at option exercise.

04. Walk-away recommendation (worked example)

Where we told a buyer not to proceed

Asset: Suburban office building, regional Victoria, 1,850 sqm NLA. Asking price equated to a 7.4% headline yield, 80bp above comparable evidence. Single tenant, professional services firm, lease tail 2.3 years with one 3-year option.

What DD found: Building survey identified facade rectification and concrete spalling at $620k over 3 years, landlord-side, not recoverable. Tenant had downsized headcount 28% over 18 months and indicated to the selling agent (off the record) that the option would not be exercised. Comparable evidence for re-letting at the contract rent was thin; the realistic market rent on re-letting was 22% below in-place rent.

Recommendation: Walk away. Headline yield was attractive in isolation but the combination of capex shortfall, near-term reversion risk and weak re-letting comparables meant the buyer was paying a stabilised-asset price for an asset that would need to be repositioned within 24 months. The buyer accepted the recommendation and re-deployed capital into a different opportunity 4 months later.

Buyer-side discipline

When we advise walking away

Buyer-side advocacy means saying no when a property does not stand up to its own pricing. These are the most common reasons we recommend a buyer walk, either at offer or during DD, even on assets that look attractive at headline level.

Capex shortfall

Building survey identifies 10-year landlord capex that the headline yield does not absorb, and the vendor will not move on price.

Reversion shock

Lease tail expires inside 36 months and the realistic re-letting rent is materially below the in-place rent, the asset is over-rented and priced as if it isn't.

Covenant downgrade in DD

Tenant covenant proves materially weaker than the marketing suggested, private operator, no guarantor, recent trading issues, and the yield does not compensate.

Environmental hold

Phase 1 / Phase 2 ESA flags contamination liability the vendor refuses to warrant or indemnify, and the cost-to-remediate is material to the deal.

Planning constraint

A heritage, flood, bushfire or zoning overlay constrains the use case the buyer is paying for, e.g. development upside or change-of-use no longer realistic.

Thin evidence

Comparable sales / lease evidence are too thin to defend the pricing, a private-market asset that cannot be triangulated against credible market data.

How we substantiate numbers

Proof methodology

Comparable-sales and agency-network claims should be substantiated, not asserted. Here is what we use, how often it is refreshed, and what we will not claim.

Comparable sales evidence

Recommendations are backed by recent, sourced comparable sales drawn from public listings (REA Commercial, realcommercial.com.au, Domain Commercial), state titles offices, and published broker market updates. Each comparable is dated, attributed, and shown in the written report.

Coverage is national but uneven by sub-market. We will flag where evidence is thin for the brief.

Yield benchmarks

Sector yields cross-checked against published Knight Frank, Savills, Colliers and JLL series (prime CBD office, sub-regional retail, prime industrial). We cite the series and the publication date in the report, not a generic range.

Yield series move; a benchmark older than 3 months is flagged as such.

Agent coverage

Brief distribution reaches the major national commercial firms and the regional / boutique principals who hold relevant stock for the asset class. We do not publish a database agent-count because not every contact is equivalent, a direct principal relationship is worth more than ten generic database entries.

If a brief sits in a sub-market we don't cover well, we will say so before engagement.

Planning & overlay data

Planning controls, heritage, flood, bushfire and overlay information sourced from state planning portals (Planning NSW, Vicplan, etc.) and the relevant council. Maps, zone codes and notification searches are date-stamped in the report.

Planning data shifts, we re-check at exchange, not just at offer.

Common Questions

Commercial Property FAQ

What is a net yield in commercial property?
Net yield is the annual rental income minus operating expenses (insurance, rates, management fees, maintenance), divided by the purchase price. It represents the actual income return after running costs. Net yields vary by asset class, lease quality, location and capex profile, the right range for a brief depends on covenant strength, lease structure and the buyer's strategy, not a universal target.

What does WALE mean?
WALE stands for Weighted Average Lease Expiry, the remaining lease term across all tenants, weighted by how much rent each tenant pays. A longer WALE generally means more income certainty and typically commands a tighter cap rate (higher price). A shorter WALE creates reversion risk but can be the point of the brief where the strategy is to reset rents at market or reposition the tenant mix.

How do you access off-market commercial property?
Buyer briefs are circulated to a national set of agency principals, major firms (CBRE, JLL, Colliers, Knight Frank, Cushman & Wakefield) and the regional and boutique brokers who hold relevant stock for the asset class. We track three sourcing categories: off-market (never publicly listed), pre-market (will list, but agents alert us first), and vendor-direct (we approach the owner ourselves where appropriate). Where we believe an on-market campaign would serve a buyer better than an off-market hunt, we say so.

Can I buy commercial property through my SMSF?
Yes. Self-managed super funds can acquire commercial property, and it's one of the most popular SMSF investment strategies. Commercial property can even be leased back to your own business. We assist with LRBA structuring, trustee compliance, and sourcing SMSF-compliant assets with strong yield profiles.

What does your due diligence cover?
Our written DD covers title, lease and tenant covenant, building condition and capex liability, environmental and contamination, planning controls and overlays, and market evidence (comparable sales, yield benchmarks, supply pipeline). Specialist inspections (building, environmental, valuation) are commissioned independently of the selling side. The report ends in a clear written recommendation: proceed, proceed with conditions, or walk away.
Acquisition Brief

Have a commercial brief? Let's talk.

Tell us your asset class, price range, and timeline. We'll review fit against our current pipeline and book a strategy call, usually within one business day.

Send Your Brief DD Framework
Warehouse and logistics estate at dusk

Discuss Your Commercial Requirements

Whether the brief is office, retail, medical, industrial, logistics, mixed-use or a development site, we apply written due diligence and off-market sourcing on a buyer-side mandate. The first call sets the brief, before we commit you to any engagement.

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