The short answer
Is commercial property a good investment, and is it right for you?
Commercial pays more income than residential because the tenant usually carries the outgoings: the same $800,000 buys about $30,700 a year gross in a house or about $52,000 net in a small industrial unit. The same feature makes it riskier, because one tenant pays that income and when they leave it stops rather than dips. It suits investors who have built equity and now need income, not investors who are simply nervous about residential. This free workshop explains it from the start: why, why now, where it fits, what a good one looks like, and the seven mistakes.
Figures from our September 2026 comparison, using Stash suburb statistics and industrial yield data for the first quarter of 2026. Read again on the night.
General information only. We're licensed buyer's agents, not financial or tax advisers, so please check anything that affects your money with your own adviser.
Before you look at a single listing
What should you know before you look at a commercial listing?
Residential has slowed for five months, rents and yields have risen, and the tax rules now tilt toward income, so more people are asking about commercial than at any time since we started. Three things first:
Commercial pays differently
Under most commercial leases the tenant carries the outgoings, so the income is net. That is where the higher return comes from. It is also why a vacancy is a stop, not a dip.
It belongs on a step, not at the start
Commercial sits between protecting what you have built and living off it. Some of you are there. Some are not yet, and finding that out is the most useful thing you can learn in an evening.
Fear is the wrong reason
Being nervous about residential is the most common reason people look at commercial, and the worst. Income is the reason. You will know which one is yours early in the night.
The evidence
Why does commercial pay more than residential?
Because under most commercial leases the tenant carries the outgoings, so the income is net rather than gross. The same $800,000 buys about $30,700 a year in a house, before you pay the rates, the insurance, the management and the hot water system, or about $52,000 net in a small industrial unit. That gap is real, and it is also where first-time buyers get hurt.
Figures from our September 2026 comparison, using Stash suburb statistics and industrial yield data for the first quarter of 2026. Both read again on the night.
The outcome
What will you get by the end of the night?
Four things, in plain English, whether you own one property or five.
Why commercial pays differently, and why the same thing makes it riskier. The same $800,000, two incomes, who carries the costs, and what happens the month a tenant leaves.
Where commercial fits in your own journey, the five things to have in place before a first purchase, whether you are there yet, and what to do first if you are not.
What a good commercial property looks like, in plain English: the profile we screen for, and its mirror image, the one to avoid first. No suburbs, no listings.
The seven mistakes first-time buyers make, each with the check that prevents it, and an honest answer on when that check is worth paying a professional for.
What we cover
What do we cover, and in what order?
Nine segments, in the order they are needed: why, then who, then what, then what goes wrong, then whether you need help.
We do not run to a stopwatch. The order is fixed; how long we spend on each part depends on the questions in the room, and the questions are the point.
The method
Are you ready, and what does a good one look like?
Four things to have in place before you look at a listing, in the order they need them.
What are the seven mistakes to avoid?
| The mistake | Why it hurts | The check that prevents it |
|---|---|---|
| 1 · Buying the yield | A yield is a price divided by an income. It says nothing about whether the income lasts. | The lease and the tenant's trading history, read before the building. |
| 2 · Reading the brochure as the research | The information memorandum is marketing. | The lease, three years of outgoings and the building reports, asked for early. |
| 3 · Skipping what empty costs | A commercial vacancy is a stop, not a dip, and the loan keeps leaving. | Twelve months of loan and outgoings priced in cash before the offer. |
| 4 · Forgetting land tax | It is assessed with everything else you hold in that state; the listing assumes you hold nothing. | The aggregated figure, with your accountant, before the offer. |
| 5 · Taking a rent guarantee at face value | A rent guarantee above the market is a price you pay up front. | Market rent evidence, and what the guarantee is covering for. |
| 6 · Buying vacant, or single-purpose, first | Both are different products with different risk models. | Who else could use this building, and how quickly. |
| 7 · Assuming your fund can borrow for it | The test is business real property: use, not zoning, not the word commercial. | The use test, with your adviser, before the fund looks at a listing. |
Do you need a buyer's agent to buy commercial property?
What an independent commercial buyer's agent does
- Works out which sector and precinct suits you before any listing, from tenant demand rather than growth headlines.
- Reads the lease and checks the tenant the way a lender would, before you form a view.
- Runs the due diligence program with your solicitor: outgoings, land tax, building, planning, the exit.
- Negotiates on settled evidence, and tells you to walk when the numbers say so.
Commercial acquisitions at Get RARE are led by Rasti Vaibhav. We are paid a flat fee by the client, fixed by price bracket and quoted before you engage. No commissions, no stock, no referral fees.
When you do not need one
- You can read a commercial lease end to end and know what a ratchet clause and a make-good obligation are.
- You have priced twelve months of vacancy in cash and it did not frighten you.
- You have settled-sale evidence for the precinct, not asking prices.
- You have the time to run the process yourself, and an accountant and solicitor who have done commercial before.
If all four are true, the workshop gives you the sheet and you will not need us. If one is not, the readiness check is fifteen minutes and it is free.
Yours to keep
What do you take home?
Four pages, sent whether you attend live or watch the recording.
An honest filter
Is this workshop for you?
This is for you if
- You own one property, or a few, and have wondered whether commercial is what comes next.
- An agent has sent you a listing with a yield in the headline, and something told you to check before you sign.
- You hold a self-managed super fund and were told in August that residential borrowing is finished.
- You have never read a commercial lease, and you would like to know what is in one before you have to.
This is not for you if
- You want a deal to buy tonight. We have no stock and nothing to sell you.
- You want a super or tax answer for your own situation. That is your adviser's, and we will say so.
- You want to be told commercial is the answer. For some of you it is a "not yet", and we will say that too.
What clients say
How we work, in their words
…putting the client at the centre of the process and not just selling stock to clients
…analytical mindset has been quite helpful in assessing my property
…thorough in his research work, focused on quality
From the reviews on our results page. 4.9 from 347 Google reviews across our Sydney and Melbourne offices.
Who is teaching it
Who is teaching this workshop?
Rasti Vaibhav, CFA. Founder, Get RARE Properties. Commercial acquisitions at Get RARE are led by Rasti.
A CFA Charterholder who spent more than 9 years managing more than $2 billion in institutional portfolios at Westpac and AMP Capital, Rasti has bought 22 properties with his own money over 15 years. His next purchase is commercial, and he is showing every number. He founded Get RARE in 2019; the firm has since bought more than $300 million of property for 550+ client families. He is the author of The Property Wealth Blueprint.
- No developer commissions
- No referral fees, in either direction
- Clients pay us directly, a flat fee
- We stay in our lane: no tax, finance or insurance advice
- Winner · 2025 REINSW John Greig OAM Community Award
- Finalist · 2026 REINSW Buyers Agency of the Year
- Finalist · 2026 REINSW Buyers Agent of the Year
- PIPA · REINSW · REIV · REIQ · REIA
- Licensed in NSW, VIC and QLD
No surprises
What happens after you register?
Four things, and nothing else. No sales calls, and no sequence you did not ask for.
Before you register
Questions people ask us
Should commercial be your next purchase?
Usually not your next purchase, unless the job has changed from growth to income. Commercial sits on the step between protecting what you have built and living off it, because a vacancy stops the income rather than denting it and the deposit is larger. The workshop shows where it fits in your journey and the five things to have in place before a first commercial purchase.
What is the difference between commercial and residential property investment?
Residential is the stronger compounder of capital; commercial is the stronger payer of income, because the tenant usually carries the outgoings. Commercial values move with the lease rather than the market, lenders assess the lease and the tenant rather than your payslip, and when a tenant leaves the income stops rather than dips.
What does a good commercial property look like?
Tenanted, with an everyday business trading from it, on a net lease with years to run and options, in a precinct where tenants want to be, in a building another tenant could use, priced against settled sales rather than the asking yield. The workshop teaches the profile and its mirror image. No suburbs and no listings are named.
Can my super fund still get a commercial property loan?
Since 10 August 2026 a fund cannot borrow to buy residential property. It can still borrow for business real property: premises used wholly and exclusively in a business. The test is use, not zoning, so a vacant shop can fail it and a warehouse with a trading tenant can pass. What your fund should do is a question for your adviser; we explain the test.
Do I need a buyer's agent to buy commercial property?
Not always. If you can read a commercial lease end to end, have priced a year of vacancy in cash, have settled-sale evidence for the precinct and have the time to run the process, you may not. The workshop says plainly when help is worth paying for and when it is not.
Is this financial, tax or credit advice?
No. General information only. We are licensed buyer's agents, not financial or tax advisers, so anything that affects your money or your fund should be checked with your own adviser.
What if I cannot make it on the night?
Register anyway. Everyone who registers gets the recording for 72 hours and the four take-homes, whether or not they attend live.
How we know
Where do these numbers come from?
Every figure on this page is published by someone else and dated, or it is our own record. The links go to the source so you can check any of it.
- Residential values, sales and yields: Cotality Home Value Index, released 1 September 2026.
- Industrial yields for the $800,000 comparison: Australian industrial and logistics figures for the first quarter of 2026, with suburb statistics from Stash. Both read again on the night.
- Super borrowing: Treasury Laws Amendment (Tax Reform No. 1) Act 2026, Schedule 5, commenced 10 August 2026. The test is business real property under section 66 of the SIS Act: use, not zoning.
- The mistakes and the deal review: Drawn from the commercial listings we screened for clients this year, with addresses and agents removed.
Every figure is read again on the morning of the workshop and shown on screen with its date. Where a number cannot be sourced, we do not use it.