Insights
Published 16 September 2026 · figures and rates as at September 2026.
Renting keeps capital free and commits a business to a cost that rises with the market. Buying converts that cost into an asset the business owns outright, and at Cecil Place that asset is freehold. The decision usually turns on how long the business expects to be in the CBD and what it wants to own at the end of that period.
A lease gives a business flexibility and a predictable cost for its term, and nothing beyond that term. Each renewal is negotiated against whatever the market has done in the interim, and a fit-out is written off against premises somebody else owns. For a business that expects to move, grow quickly or leave the city centre, that is the right trade. For one that has been in the same district for a decade and expects to stay, it is a decade of cost with no residual.
Ownership means an entry cost and a monthly cost. The entry cost is the price, Buyer’s Stamp Duty on the commercial scale, 9% GST and the legal fee — the whole of it set out on the stamp duty and GST page. The monthly cost is the loan repayment, which is fixed against the facility rather than against the leasing market, plus property tax at 10% of Annual Value from Temporary Occupation Permit onwards. At the end, the business holds a freehold strata unit rather than a set of expired lease documents.
A bank lends most comfortably against a business that will occupy and maintain the premises. That is why the indicative ceiling for an owner-occupied purchase sits around 90%, against around 80% where the unit is let out — the bands are on the commercial loan page. A company that occupies its own unit is therefore financing the purchase on the most favourable terms available in this asset class.
The two options are not exclusive. Units at Cecil Place run from approximately 1,750 to 3,900 sqft, with full-floor amalgamation available — the layouts are on the floor plan page. A business can occupy what it needs and let the balance, which puts a rental income against the facility while keeping the option to expand into the space later. Whether the letting changes the GST position depends on the entity, as the insight on GST explains.
It is strongest for a business that wants a CBD address it cannot be asked to leave. Freehold strata stock in the central area has been scarce since strata subdivision there was restricted in 2022, so the alternative to owning here is rarely owning somewhere comparable — it is renting. The insight on freehold scarcity covers that background, and the location page covers the address itself.
Put your own figures through the commercial purchase calculator: it reports the cash needed in the first eight weeks, the drawdown through construction, the monthly repayment once fully drawn and the property tax estimate, so the ownership cost can be set against the rent the business pays today. Indicative pricing is on the pricing page and current availability on the balance units chart.