Most property investment advice starts with a fairly predictable investor: someone earning a regular salary, borrowing against that income and looking for the right property to build long-term wealth.
For business owners, that picture can look very different.
Income can fluctuate, borrowing capacity may be assessed differently, and there is already risk sitting inside the business. Also, the structure used to buy an investment property can have implications that extend well beyond the property itself.
Recent changes to Australia’s tax and property investment rules have made those conversations more important. For founders considering property, structure is increasingly something to discuss before buying, not something to untangle at tax time.
Business Owners Bring Different Risks to the Table
A business owner and a salaried employee may have the same investment goal, but they rarely arrive with the same financial circumstances.
Variable income can affect borrowing and portfolio planning. More importantly, a founder may already have considerable personal exposure through their business.
That makes questions around ownership structure and asset protection particularly relevant.
In a recent discussion with Sidney Cachuela, founder of Lucent Advisory, Fresh Start Advisory co-founder Frank Ambesi explored why decisions around structures such as companies and trusts need to be considered in the context of the investor’s wider financial position.
For business owners, that means looking beyond the property in isolation. How is the business structured? Where does the existing risk sit? How could another major asset fit into that picture? What does the accountant need to consider before a contract is signed?
The answers will differ from one owner to another, which is precisely why a generic approach can fall short.
The Window for “We’ll Fix It Later” Is Getting Smaller
The 2026 federal reforms add another layer to those decisions.
From July 1, 2027, negative gearing for established residential properties acquired after 7:30 pm AEST on May 12, 2026 will be restricted, with affected rental losses generally unable to offset salary or other income. Properties held before the Budget announcement are grandfathered, while eligible new builds are treated differently.
Other changes affect the way investors may think about structures. The government has proposed a 30 per cent minimum tax for discretionary trusts from July 2028, alongside a three-year rollover relief window beginning July 2027 for eligible restructures. That relief concerns income tax consequences and doesn’t remove potential state and territory duties. The trust reforms remain subject to the legislative process, with exposure draft legislation released for consultation in September.
SMSF rules have shifted too. Since August 10, 2026, new limited recourse borrowing arrangements used by SMSFs to acquire real property are generally restricted to business real property, with transitional protection applying to certain existing or already-committed arrangements.
None of those changes automatically dictate how a business owner should invest. They do make it harder to assume that a structure can simply be corrected later without cost or complication.
Ambesi understands the consequences of getting property advice wrong from personal experience. Before establishing Fresh Start Advisory with Adrian Trimboli, both founders say they were misled by buyer’s agents and ended up with underperforming properties. That experience became part of the reason they started the firm.
Bring the Accountant in Before the Purchase
For founders, the practical lesson is relatively simple: the people helping choose the property and the people advising on structure should be having the conversation early.
An accountant can assess the tax and structural implications based on the owner’s individual circumstances. A buyer’s advocate can then approach the property search with those parameters already understood.
Waiting until tax-return time reverses that order. By then, the property has been purchased, the ownership structure has been established, and some options may be more expensive or difficult to change.
It’s also why a tailored property investment strategy needs to consider more than where to buy or what type of property could perform well. For a business owner, the strategy should sit alongside conversations about borrowing capacity, existing assets, business risk and the appropriate ownership structure.
Fresh Start Advisory’s approach is to work alongside accounting professionals, including firms such as Lucent Advisory, so those conversations can happen before the property decision is locked in.
That doesn’t mean building an investment decision around a tax benefit. As Ambesi and Cachuela discussed, the property still needs to make sense as a long-term investment. Tax treatment is one part of the decision, rather than the reason for making it.
For business owners, the distinction matters.
Their investment goals may be no different from anyone else’s: building wealth, creating another income stream, or establishing greater financial security outside the business. But the risks surrounding those goals can be very different.
The property itself is only one decision. Who owns it, how it’s financed, and how it fits alongside the business deserve to be considered before the contract is signed.
