Three levers, one title
A strip shop is really three opportunities in one building, and because it is held on a single title, they can all be acted on without buying anyone out. That is rare, and it is why these sites reward a closer look.
Unused development potential
These sites sit in local centres upzoned for homes above shops, and most use a fraction of what the controls now allow. Near a station, a site can carry shop top housing at a floor space ratio of up to 2.5 to 1, well beyond what an old strip shop uses today. That unused potential is value sitting in the land, and a valuer can recognise it before a brick is laid. How much depends on the specific site.
Lift the income and the mix
Refresh the shops and the flats, bring the rents up to the local market, and improve the mix with a stickier use such as medical or allied health, the tenants investors most want. Sydney strip retail trades on yields near 6 to 7 per cent, so each extra dollar of rent adds roughly fifteen dollars of value.
Captured on the date, exempt
For a pre 1985 owner, the higher value is captured into the permanent tax base on 1 July 2027, and the gains of the past decades stay exempt. The work simply needs to be recognised before the date.
One strip shop, valued three ways
A row of four shops with four flats above, on one title, held in the family for decades. Tired, under let, and using a fraction of what the site now allows. The same building, valued as it stands, then repositioned, then with its shop top housing potential recognised. The repositioning step is anchored on a Sydney strip retail yield of about 6.5 per cent; the planning step reflects the extra shop top housing the site can now carry. On the repositioning step, works of the order of $350,000 add roughly $1.2 million of value, over three times the spend, and the further planning uplift is unlocked mainly through a concept scheme rather than construction. Every figure here is indicative only and would be established for the specific site after inspection and a formal valuation, so the actual numbers will vary.
Indicative and illustrative only, for a strip of four shops with four flats above on one title. The value as it stands and the repositioning step reflect a Sydney neighbourhood retail yield of about 6.5 per cent; the planning step reflects the additional shop top housing the site can carry under the current controls. Every figure depends on the specific site, its condition, tenancies and planning controls, and would be established for that building only after inspection and a formal valuation, so the actual numbers will vary. Development potential is confirmed by a town planner, and the tax position by the owner's accountant. These are announced tax measures, subject to the enabling legislation.
Sources: Colliers Australian Retail Snapshot, 2025 (retail yields); NSW Planning, Low and Mid Rise Housing and Transport Oriented Development controls, and the NSW Government review of the impact of rezoning on land values (planning).
Two stages, and a fee tied to the result
CASE?
rises
The hard parts are already solved
What makes it work
- One owner, one title, so there is no one to buy out and nothing to amalgamate
- Wide frontage, a deep lot, often a corner, on a main road near transport
- An active retail ground floor kept, with homes added above, exactly what the new controls want
- The owner keeps the shop and the income the whole way through
And you do not have to build
- Having the potential recognised, with a feasibility or a concept behind it, lifts the value
- If the owner wants to develop, they can, with our team ready
- If they simply want the higher value locked in before the date, that works too
- Either way the uplift is captured into the 2027 base, exempt for a pre 1985 owner
Value early, value well
The first step is the Asset Value Review. We look at the building, the income and, importantly, the site and its planning controls, and we tell you honestly whether there is a worthwhile case to act on before the date. If there is, we bring the planner, the builders and the independent valuer to turn that potential into a confirmed, higher value. You stay in control throughout. A town planner confirms the planning potential, and your accountant confirms anything to do with tax, the same way the rest of our work sits beneath the experts. Not every strip shop is upzoned, so the first thing we check is the zone.