Proactive Business Sales report strong business sales in Toowoomba thanks to immigrant buyers

In years gone by, businesses in Toowoomba could be on the market for months. Now some are selling within weeks, and it’s largely thanks to one demographic.

Business sales across Toowoomba are booming right now, and one factor is helping drive the trend.

Proactive Business Sales business broker Marc Phillips (pictured) said in years gone by businesses had been for sale on the open market for up to nine months.

Now, some businesses in the Garden City were selling within two weeks.

“This is the best sales environment for businesses we’ve seen in a decade,” Mr Phillips said.

“Our buyer database is so strong and compared to residential or commercial real estate the turnaround times are phenomenal.”

Mr Phillips said a key driver of business sales was immigrant buyers looking to take advantage of the Queensland Government’s 491 visa scheme, which allows people currently living and operating a small business in a regional area to live in Queensland for five years, and is also a pathway to permanent residency.

“Toowoomba has really benefited from this visa option because we’re classified as a rural area, so places like Brisbane, the Gold Coast, Ipswich don’t qualify,” he said.

“Compared to any other transaction, people looking to take advantage of the conditions of this visa by investing in owning a business need to make a decision. They could be on a visa that’s about to expire so they need to make that decision which means they’re creating robust demand for businesses in places like Toowoomba.

“Over the past 12 months or so about 80 per cent of buyers that we’ve seen have been immigrants looking to buy a business through this visa, so Toowoomba has benefited massively.”

Originally published as Proactive Business Sales report strong business sales in Toowoomba thanks to immigrant buyers