You own a warehouse somewhere between Sunshine and Geelong and you're thinking about selling. The question nobody's answering properly is who you should be selling to. An owner occupier who wants to run their business from the building, or an investor chasing rental income. Get this call wrong and you could leave real money on the table, or worse, sit on the market for months while the right buyer never sees your listing.
Two Buyers, Two Very Different Motivations
An owner occupier is buying a home for their business. They care about access, ceiling height, hardstand, office fitout and whether the site suits their operation for the next decade. An investor is buying a number. They care about the lease term, the tenant's covenant strength and the yield the asset produces against other options in the market.
The buyer who needs your warehouse to run their business will almost always think about price differently to the buyer who just wants a return on it.
Why Owner Occupiers Sometimes Pay a Premium
Owner occupiers can pay more than the numbers strictly justify because they're not comparing your building to a yield benchmark. They're comparing it to the cost, time and disruption of relocating, fitting out a new site or building from scratch. If your warehouse suits a specific type of business well, that owner occupier may pay to avoid the alternative entirely.
Why Investors Can Outbid Owner Occupiers
Investors aren't sentimental, but they are competitive when the fundamentals stack up. If your property is leased to a strong tenant on a long term with fixed increases, an investor may value that income stream more highly than any owner occupier would value the bricks and mortar.
The best price rarely comes from choosing one buyer type. It comes from creating genuine competition between both.
The Factors That Tip the Scales
Which buyer pays more depends less on the market in general and more on the specifics of your property and how it's presented.
Common Mistakes Sellers Make When Choosing a Campaign
How Fairmont Positions Your Sale to Attract Both
The strongest result usually comes from running a campaign that speaks to both buyer types at once and lets the market decide who values your asset more. That means clear information on lease status, building specification and future flexibility, presented in a way that doesn't force either buyer to guess.
If you're weighing up selling and structuring the sale through an SMSF or other investment vehicle, that's a conversation for your accountant or financial adviser. This guide is general property information only, not financial, tax or legal advice, and Fairmont is a property agency, not a licensed financial adviser.
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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.