Industrial business valuations in Sydney

Why does industrial land weigh so heavily on Sydney valuations?

In January 2025 the NSW Government released an Industrial Lands Action Plan, stating that the industrial sector faces escalating land values, increased rents and, in some locations, almost zero vacancies. It estimated that industrial-related industries contributed about $174 billion in gross value to the NSW economy in 2024. For a valuer, that turns into three practical questions.

1. Is the rent in the accounts a market rent? A business on a lease signed several years ago may be paying well under today's market. We normalise occupancy cost so a buyer does not pay for a rent advantage that disappears at the next review.
2. Can the business stay? We check the remaining term, options and any redevelopment or demolition clauses. A site with no option and a landlord with other plans is a real risk to maintainable earnings.
3. What would moving cost? Relocating a production line or a racked warehouse costs money and output, and the replacement site may be further from staff and customers. We price that risk rather than ignore it.

Port Botany, Moorebank and businesses that live on container volumes

NSW Ports reports that Port Botany handles 99.6% of the container traffic in New South Wales, about 2.8 million TEU a year. Container carriers, customs brokers, bonded warehouses and importers all earn their revenue from that flow, and the flow moves with consumer demand. We look at revenue per container or per pallet and check how the business performed in a soft year as well as a strong one.

Rail is changing the map. The Moorebank Intermodal Precinct in south-west Sydney describes itself as Australia's largest intermodal logistics precinct, with import-export and interstate terminals and capacity of about 1.5 million TEU a year. A road carrier that moves containers between the port and western depots should be able to show how its volumes have tracked as rail options have grown, and what its customer agreements actually commit to. Our article on valuing a logistics business covers contract and fleet questions.

Smithfield, Wetherill Park and the new airport

Fairfield City Council describes the Smithfield and Wetherill Park industrial estate as one of the largest in the Southern Hemisphere, with nearly 3,000 businesses and 20,000 jobs. Fabricators, manufacturers, distributors and transport firms sit side by side there. Where a business trades with neighbours that share owners or family ties, we test those prices against arm's length terms before relying on the margins.

Further west, the Australian Government announced that Western Sydney International (Nancy-Bird Walton) Airport would open to freight on 26 July 2026 and to passengers on 25 October 2026, operating without a curfew. The NSW Government opened the Advanced Manufacturing Readiness Facility at Bradfield City Centre in March 2025. Buyers are watching the Aerotropolis closely. We value what a business can show: signed contracts, tenders won and enquiries tied to the new precinct carry weight, while general optimism about the area does not.

When the property is worth more than the business

Where a long-held Sydney business owns its premises, often through a family trust or a separate company, years of land value growth can leave the property worth more than the operating business. A valuation has to keep the two apart, or the owner may misread what a buyer will pay for the business itself.

The same separation matters for tax and restructuring work, where the value sitting in each entity has consequences of its own.

Servicing Sydney and New South Wales

The work runs on documents and calls with a suitably qualified business valuer at Valuation Group, not meetings at a Sydney office. A Smithfield manufacturer and a Moorebank 3PL go through the same process, and so do businesses in Newcastle and the Hunter, Wollongong and the Illawarra and regional New South Wales. If the operation needs to be seen, we say so when scoping and agree any visit and its cost first. Methods are explained on how we value and fees on pricing.