I meet a lot of business owners who are proud they own their building — and they should be; it usually represents years of hard work. But pride isn't a return, and when we sit down and look at the numbers, the same conclusion comes up again and again: the building is the lowest-returning asset they own.
The maths nobody runs
Here's the thing about capital: every dollar has an opportunity cost. A dollar sitting in your warehouse earns roughly a property yield — call it a few per cent. The same dollar reinvested in your business — stock, plant, people, sales — earns your business's return on capital, which for a healthy growing company is usually a multiple of that.
So when you own the building, you've converted high-returning business capital into low-returning property capital. The rent you 'save' by owning is almost always less than what that capital could have earned working in the business. The wider the gap between your business's return and the property yield, the more owning quietly costs you.
When owning does make sense
I'm not against owning — for some businesses it's the right call. If your premises are highly specialised and your business is mature and stable, if property is a deliberate part of your wealth strategy, or if you simply have surplus capital with nowhere better to put it, owning can be fine. The point isn't that owning is wrong. It's that most owners never actually run the comparison.
The third path
If you already own and the maths says the capital should be working harder, you're not stuck choosing between owning and moving. A sale and leaseback lets you sell the building to a long-term owner and lease it straight back — you free the full value tied up in the property and keep operating from exactly the same site.
Done with the right counterparty — a permanent-hold owner, not a trader — you give up very little except the property risk. You get long, secure tenure, fair reviews, and a partner who reinvests in the building. And the capital that was sitting in the walls goes back to doing what it does best: growing your business.
None of this is financial advice — get your own. But run the comparison. Most owners are surprised by what their building is really costing them.