You are running a business out of a leased factory somewhere between Laverton and Lara, and every time the rent review letter lands you think the same thing. Why am I paying someone else's mortgage. It is a fair question, and it is the exact question that leads a lot of owner operators towards the idea of buying their premises through a Self Managed Super Fund. This guide will not tell you to do it. It will tell you what the concept actually involves, what to weigh up, and who should be making the final call.
Why factory tenants end up here
Most owners who lease industrial space in the western corridor did not plan to become property investors. They needed a shed, they signed a lease, and years later they are still handing over rent that could theoretically be building equity instead. Add in rising demand for well located industrial space around the Geelong corridor and it is easy to see why the SMSF route gets raised at dinner tables and industry events.
Wanting to stop paying rent to someone else is a completely normal instinct, but it is not a strategy on its own.
What business real property actually means
Under superannuation rules, a fund can generally acquire what is known as business real property, which broadly covers land and buildings used wholly and exclusively for business purposes, including a factory or warehouse occupied by the fund member's own operating business. This is one of the few situations where an SMSF can transact with a related party, which is exactly why it gets attention. The detail of what qualifies, and how the fund can hold and lease that property back to your business, sits inside strict rules set by the regulator.
Buying the building is not the goal. Owning the right building, the right way, is.
The upside people talk about
The traps that catch tenants out
Where this actually gets decided
Fairmont Property Group sells and leases industrial property across Melbourne's west and the Geelong corridor every week, and we talk to plenty of tenants weighing up exactly this move. What we can tell you is which precincts are holding value, what comparable factories are leasing and selling for, and whether a particular building genuinely suits an owner occupier structure. What we cannot tell you, and what no property agent should tell you, is whether an SMSF purchase suits your personal financial position.
This section is general information only. It is not financial, tax or legal advice, and Fairmont Property Group is a property agency, not a licensed financial adviser. Any decision about using your super to buy business real property should be made with your own accountant, financial adviser or SMSF specialist, who can look at your full financial picture before you commit to anything.
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Fairmont only sells and leases industrial property across Melbourne's western corridor and Geelong. That focus is deliberate. It means we know the buyers who are active right now and what they are prepared to pay.