Commercial property deserves greater consideration — but it also demands greater understanding.
ABOUT THE SERIES
A course in commercial property, in six parts
The investment environment has changed. Over six weekly podcasts and features, Phillip Tarrant and Victor Kumar take investors from curiosity to capability: whether commercial property belongs in your portfolio, what to buy, what can go wrong, how to fund it, how to make it perform, and how to find and execute a good deal.
WHAT CHANGED
SINCE 10 AUGUST 2026
New SMSF limited-recourse borrowing for residential property is generally restricted. Borrowing to buy qualifying business real property can remain available.
FROM 1 JULY 2027
Negative gearing on residential property will generally be limited to new builds. Commercial property remains under existing arrangements.
General information only. Get licensed advice before acting.
YOUR HOSTS
Phillip Tarrant
Host, Smart Property Investment. Asks the questions a residential investor needs answered.
Victor Kumar
Founder, Right Property Group. Property investor, buyers agent and adviser.
WRITTEN FOR TWO KINDS OF INVESTOR
New to commercial: experienced residential investors asking what comes next.
Already in commercial: investors looking to diversify or improve performance.
A NOTE FROM SMART PROPERTY INVESTMENT
The post-budget guide to commercial property investing
Phillip Tarrant
Director – Smart Property Investment and Real Estate Business, Momentum Media
Ask 10 property professionals where commercial demand is headed, and you’ll get 10 different answers, most of them confidently delivered.
There’s a shift happening in how sophisticated investors are building their portfolios, and it’s worth paying attention to.
For years, the residential growth story dominated the conversation, and understandably so. But with inflation continuing to tick upward and interest rate increases still on the cards, the calculus for where to deploy capital is changing. Higher rates mean the hunt for yield intensifies, and commercial property is where a growing number of investors are landing.
It’s not hard to see why. Commercial assets are consistently delivering stronger yields than their residential counterparts, at a time when yield matters more than it has in years. And for investors running a self-managed super fund (SMSF), the ability to borrow directly within the SMSF structure to acquire commercial property adds a layer of accessibility that simply no longer exists for residential real estate.
Put those two factors together, and it’s little wonder commercial real estate is attracting capital that might once have defaulted to residential.
But strong fundamentals don’t mean every commercial asset or postcode is worth backing.
With the property advice sector changing day-by-day, ask 10 property professionals where commercial demand is headed, and you’ll get 10 different answers, most of them confidently delivered.
But few of them are accurate. Worse still, a poorly selected commercial asset can railroad not only your investing journey, but your financial position.
With more and more property professionals claiming to be experts in commercial real estate, the risk of partnering with the wrong person and selecting the wrong asset has never been greater – from extremely costly vacancy periods, expensive upgrades, contractual obscurities, financing clauses, and flimsy valuations.
That’s why I partnered with Victor and Reshmi Kumar from the Right Property Group to develop this six-part series, covering whether investing in commercial property is right for your portfolio, asset selection, managing risk, debt financing, growth strategies, and assessing deals. Each part will include a written report and podcast to show how you can navigate commercial real estate investing, with the expertise of people who’ve done it.
To support this endeavour, Victor and I have canvassed the real estate community, including buyer’s agents and selling agents up and down the country, to get the inside scoop on what they’re looking out for and the changing market.
THE POST-BUDGET GUIDE • CONTENTS
1 of 6 released
THE COMPLETE GUIDE
All six parts, one guide
Once all six parts are published, they come together as The post-budget guide to commercial property investing.
Register once to read every part as it’s released, and get the complete guide when it’s ready.
EPISODE 1 · 50 MINS
The commercial property decision: Is it right for your portfolio?
Phillip Tarrant with Victor Kumar
IN PARTNERSHIP WITH
Thinking about your first commercial property?
Victor has more than 25 years of personal investing experience across multiple property cycles. His approach is grounded in that experience: buy toward a specific financial outcome, rather than simply accumulating properties.