Know what your agency, rent roll or book is worth before a buyer's offer sets the number.

An agency sale valuation tells you what your agency, rent roll or client book is worth at a stated date, on the evidence a buyer will test, before you go to market or answer an offer. It looks at the recurring income a buyer is paying for, how much of it is likely to stay after a change of owner, and what it costs to service. The fee is fixed by the revenue of what is being valued: $1,495 + GST under $2 million, delivered in 2 business days. Delivery time starts once payment and all required information have been received.

Why value an agency before you sell it?

The first serious offer tends to anchor every conversation that follows. Without your own figure, the buyer's number becomes the starting point.

An independent valuation gives you a figure built from your own records, with the reasoning written down. It shows which parts of the income a buyer is likely to discount, so you can fix or explain them before due diligence. It gives co-owners one number to agree on, and your accountant a base for the tax questions a sale raises.

We value agencies; we do not list, broker or sell them. The fee is fixed before work starts and does not depend on the value or on whether a sale goes ahead.

What exactly are you selling?

The first question is what changes hands, because it decides what is valued and which fee band applies.

• ·The whole agency as a business: client relationships, contracts, brand, systems and goodwill. Banded on the agency's total annual turnover.
• ·Shares or units in the entity that runs the agency. We value the business first, then the equity. Banded on the agency's total annual turnover.
• ·A rent roll on its own, with the real estate agency keeping its sales business. Banded on the rent roll's annual management income.
• ·An insurance or mortgage broking book on its own, such as a run of renewing clients or a trail book. Banded on that book's annual recurring income.
• ·A slice of a book, such as one region or one adviser's clients. We confirm scope and band in writing before we start.

What does a buyer pay for in each kind of agency?

A buyer is paying for income that has not happened yet: how much of today's recurring income will still be there after the sale, and what it costs to keep it.

For a rent roll: management income by property, fee rates against each signed management agreement, arrears, vacancies and managed properties listed for sale. For an insurance brokerage: brokerage income and fees by client and insurer, renewal history, and who holds each relationship. For a mortgage broking book: trail income by lender, loan balances and how quickly loans are refinanced or repaid. For an advice practice: ongoing service fees and how long clients have stayed.

For marketing, digital and creative agencies: retainers against one-off projects, contract terms and the share of revenue from the largest clients. For recruitment and labour hire: placement fees against contractor margin, and how dependent billings are on individual consultants. For travel agencies: booking income and supplier income by account, especially corporate accounts.

What reduces the price a buyer will pay?

Each is cheaper to fix or explain before a sale than after a buyer finds it.

• ·Income that cannot be traced client by client, or property by property, in your own systems
• ·Clients or managements without a current signed agreement, or fees charged that the agreement does not support
• ·A few clients or landlords holding a large share of the income
• ·A principal, senior broker or lead consultant who holds most relationships and will not stay through the handover
• ·One-off or project income presented as if it were recurring
• ·No record of clients won and lost, and why
• ·For real estate agencies, trust account audit exceptions or unreconciled ledgers

How do the deal terms change what you receive?

Agency sale contracts often hold back some of the price under a retention clause, reduce it through a clawback for clients lost after settlement, or pay it later under an earn-out or vendor finance. Two offers with the same headline price can leave you with very different amounts, at different times, with different risk.

Where you have an offer or heads of agreement, the report can show how its terms move the effective price away from the headline. See Earn-outs, retention clauses and clawbacks in agency deals.

What tax and legal questions sit beside the price?

Your accountant and lawyer answer these; the valuation supports the position they settle on.

GST: a supply of a going concern is GST-free if it is for consideration, the buyer is registered or required to be registered, and both parties agree in writing that it is a going concern; the seller also supplies everything necessary for the continued operation of the enterprise and carries it on until the day of supply. Whether a sale of a book or rent roll alone qualifies depends on the facts.

Goodwill: the ATO's goodwill ruling says it does not consider specific goodwill issues in particular industries, naming rent rolls and property management rights as examples. How a rent roll is treated for CGT is for your tax adviser.

Timing: from 1 July 2027 the 50% CGT discount for individuals, trusts and partnerships is replaced by cost base indexation and a 30% minimum tax rate on capital gains, for gains accruing after that date. See 30 June 2027 market valuations for agency owners.

Client lists: business.gov.au reminds sellers to comply with the Australian Privacy Principles when disclosing personal information to potential buyers, and that information given to a buyer must be accurate and not misleading.

What does a sale valuation cost?

The fee is fixed in writing before work starts.

The band is set by the annual revenue, excluding GST, of what is being valued: a rent roll's annual management income when the rent roll is valued on its own, an insurance or mortgage book's annual recurring income when the book is valued on its own, or the agency's total annual turnover when the whole agency, or shares or units in it, are valued. A business on exactly $3 million is Medium, and one on exactly $10 million is Large. Add-ons: +$495 per retrospective (past) valuation date, and +$795 per additional entity. Delivery time starts once payment and all required information have been received.

• ·GSTR 2002/5 GST: when is a supply of a going concern GST-free?, Australian Taxation Office
• ·TR 1999/16 Income tax: capital gains: goodwill of a business (paragraph 5), Australian Taxation Office
• ·Tax reform: reforming negative gearing and capital gains tax (QC107304), Australian Taxation Office
• ·Sell your business, Australian Government (business.gov.au)
• ·Market valuation for tax purposes (guide), Australian Taxation Office