What led you to start your own company? 

As a teenager I did work experience with a real estate agency in country Victoria where I grew up. I wanted to be involved in property from a young age. 

After leaving school, I was fortunate to get a cadetship in a residential agency in Melbourne, and worked my way up from there. The first five years learning the ropes was a hard slog six or seven days a week, but I loved every minute of it. I still remember the first property I sold was a one-bedroom flat in Tattenham Street, Caulfield for $165,000.

I then transitioned from residential real estate to commercial property in the late 2000s. 

In 2012, I left a large commercial firm in the CBD and went on a short break before pursuing post graduate studies in property. I found that a lot of past clients were still looking to buy or sell property. 

That is where Melbourne Acquisitions began, and was founded in a spare room in my apartment. We are now seven staff with offices in Melbourne and growing… 

What sets your company apart? 

We’re a small business but agile, responsive and have a terrific team who continually raise the bar, add value and achieve benchmark results for our clients. 

We typically focus on off-market brokerage and have a strong network and great customer base locally and internationally. Our services include sales, leasing, acquisitions and asset management. 

We provide our customers with acquisition and divestment solutions for office, retail, industrial, development sites and childcare primarily. Our company also manages carparks, hotels, business parks, commercial offices, industrial and retail assets.    

What do you enjoy most about your job? 

The people, negotiation and interaction. In this business you meet so many different personalities and get to see some really interesting deals and opportunities. 

What I find most rewarding is working collaboratively with clients, finding solutions, and creating value by helping them achieve their investment objectives. 

The commercial market has been extremely active over the last few years. Do you see this trend continuing, and what are the key indicators for determining the state of the market? 

Yes, supply and demand is one of the most important considerations that drives activity. 

Some things to keep an eye on are vacancy, supply, absorption, access to funding and planning restrictions. Other indicators we see investors typically look towards are interest rates, bond, equity and money markets.

Luckily, Australia is one of the most transparent countries in the world to invest into property. And Melbourne has consecutively rated as the world's most livable city for the past five years, which is a major drawcard, along with strong population growth forecasts. These are major attractions for local and overseas investors.

Also the residential development market has seen a lot of change, primarily around planning controls and finance conditions, in the same period, which has taken some heat out of that market, but there are still significant amounts of capital around looking for quality property and development opportunities. I think most active players are recognising this and will take advantage of it. 

What's your assessment on the current level of commercial property supply? 

For the 15-16 financial year, there were less than a dozen recorded transactions we are aware of in each of the three commercial office markets - CBD, CBD Fringe and Suburban. These were ranging from circa $10m to $675m. This suggests commercial office stock is being tightly held, even below $10m.

With a shortage of stock there are still a lot of active buyers and tenants looking for quality assets, despite market gyrations and funding difficulties being experienced across most asset classes.

Melbourne Acquisitions is a Melbourne-based real estate agency led by a team of property professionals with over 40 years’ combined experience. The team has managed more than $1 billion worth of property transactions, and has an extensive network of national and international corporate and private clients. 

Melbourne Acquisitions specialises in sales, leasing, acquisitions and asset management, providing customers with acquisition and divestment solutions for office, retail, industrial, development sites and childcare. The company manages carparks, hotels, business parks, commercial offices, industrial and retail assets. 

Read more about Melbourne Acquisitions:

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How to add value to an investment property: Melbourne Acquisitions

The strategic approach to adding value to commercial property: Melbourne Acquisitions