Nearly $160 million in major industrial deals is putting Perth firmly back on the investment radar

Perth’s industrial property market is sending a very clear signal.

Within a matter of months, major investors have committed close to $160 million across a handful of strategic industrial land and investment transactions, including substantial acquisitions in Welshpool, Forrestfield and Bullsbrook.

The latest activity includes Cosgrove Group’s acquisition of two industrial assets for approximately $58.2 million, another Forrestfield property changing hands for approximately $21 million, and Troon Group making its first move into the Perth market with an enormous $79.8 million, 180-hectare Bullsbrook industrial development site.

These are very different properties.

Welshpool and Forrestfield are established, tightly held industrial precincts.

Bullsbrook represents the opposite end of the spectrum: a massive future industrial landholding approximately 50 kilometres north-east of Perth CBD.

But the investment thesis connecting them is remarkably similar.

Perth needs industrial property, and genuinely developable industrial land is becoming increasingly difficult to secure.

Industrial leasing remains strong, rents continue growing, development pipelines are heavily pre-committed and serviced land constraints are pushing land values higher.

For developers and investors, Perth’s industrial land shortage is no longer simply a supply issue.

It is becoming an investment strategy.

Perth industrial property market snapshot

Perth entered the second half of 2026 with some of the strongest industrial fundamentals in Australia.

CBRE recorded approximately 187,000m² of gross industrial take-up during Q2 2026, taking rolling 12-month leasing activity to approximately 409,000m² — well above Perth’s long-term average.

At the same time:

• Approximately 65,000m² of new industrial supply was delivered during Q2.
• Around 74% of Perth’s forward industrial development pipeline is already pre-committed.
• Super-prime net face rents are approximately 6.5% higher year-on-year.
• Owner-occupier demand remains strong.
• Serviced industrial land supply remains constrained.
• Land values continue rising across Perth’s industrial precincts.
• Super-prime investment yields remain around 6%.
• Major investors are increasingly targeting land-rich assets with redevelopment potential.

The important number may be that 74% pre-commitment rate.

A large development pipeline does not necessarily translate into large amounts of available space if most of it already has an occupier attached before completion.

Bought & Sold: Cosgrove Group acquires $58.2 million of Perth industrial property

One of the week’s biggest Australian industrial property stories is Cosgrove Group’s acquisition of two major Perth assets from funds managed by Lester Group.

Cosgrove acquired:

7 Ashby Close, Forrestfield — $26.9 million

and

111–121 McDowell Street, Welshpool — $31.3 million

for a combined consideration of approximately $58.2 million.

Both properties sit within Perth’s tightly held eastern industrial corridor.

That matters.

Welshpool and Forrestfield provide access to major freight infrastructure, Perth Airport, the wider metropolitan road network and established industrial supply chains.

These are not emerging locations waiting for demand to arrive.

They are already mature employment precincts where obtaining large strategic landholdings is increasingly difficult.

111–121 McDowell Street, Welshpool — $31.3 million

The Welshpool property was the larger of Cosgrove’s two acquisitions.

The approximately 3.86-hectare holding contains around 4,912m² of office and warehouse accommodation and generates approximately $1.94 million in annual rent.

The transaction reportedly reflected a yield of approximately 6.2%.

But the existing income is only part of the property’s attraction.

A relatively low site coverage on a substantial established industrial landholding provides longer-term flexibility.

That can mean:

• Expansion.
• Additional development.
• Reconfiguration.
• Intensification.
• Future redevelopment.

In a land-constrained market, unused development capacity can become increasingly valuable.

7 Ashby Close, Forrestfield — $26.9 million

Cosgrove also paid approximately $26.9 million for 7 Ashby Close, Forrestfield.

The property comprises approximately 9,314m² of improvements on 3.2 hectares of land and is leased to Warners Transport & Distribution until January 2034.

That combination is particularly attractive to investors.

It provides:

income today + strategic industrial land tomorrow.

Long-term lease security reduces near-term investment risk while the underlying land provides future optionality.

This is becoming an increasingly common investment strategy across Australia’s industrial market.

Another $21.05 million changes hands in Forrestfield

Cosgrove wasn’t the only buyer.

Another property from the Lester portfolio at 883 Abernethy Road, Forrestfield was acquired by Bastow Group for approximately $21.05 million.

That takes the three eastern Perth transactions to approximately:

$79.25 million.

And all three involve industrial property within Perth’s established eastern corridor.

That concentration of capital is important.

Investors are not simply buying “Perth industrial”.

They are targeting specific precincts where land scarcity, infrastructure and occupier demand intersect.

Why Welshpool remains one of Perth’s most valuable industrial precincts

Welshpool is difficult to replicate.

The precinct sits approximately 10 kilometres from Perth CBD and provides excellent connectivity to:

• Perth Airport.
• Kewdale freight precinct.
• Roe Highway.
• Tonkin Highway.
• Leach Highway.
• Major metropolitan population centres.

It also contains a substantial established industrial ecosystem.

Businesses operating in Welshpool include:

• Transport.
• Mining services.
• Engineering.
• Manufacturing.
• Equipment suppliers.
• Automotive.
• Warehousing.
• Construction suppliers.

For many occupiers, moving farther from the established supply chain creates operational disadvantages.

That supports demand even as land and rental costs increase.

Power is becoming another Welshpool advantage

The changing nature of industrial demand is adding another dimension.

Earlier this year, a 27,152m² industrial holding at 125–129 Sheffield Road, Welshpool was brought to market with approximately 4.5MVA of existing power capacity.

Cushman & Wakefield specifically identified access to power and land scarcity as increasingly important factors influencing industrial investment decisions.

That fits directly into a broader change occurring across Australian industrial property.

Large power connections are increasingly valuable to:

• Advanced manufacturing.
• Automation.
• Cold storage.
• Technology.
• Battery businesses.
• Data infrastructure.
• Electrified vehicle fleets.

Industrial land is therefore beginning to be valued not only according to where it is, but according to what infrastructure it can access.

Forrestfield continues benefiting from Perth Airport and freight infrastructure

Forrestfield has another set of advantages.

Its proximity to Perth Airport and major freight infrastructure has established the precinct as an important logistics location.

Businesses can access:

• Tonkin Highway.
• Roe Highway.
• Perth Airport.
• Kewdale freight infrastructure.
• Perth’s eastern suburbs.
• Regional WA transport routes.

That makes the area particularly attractive to transport and distribution businesses.

The Warners Transport tenancy at Ashby Close illustrates exactly the type of occupier the location supports.

Then came the $79.8 million Bullsbrook deal

If the Welshpool and Forrestfield transactions demonstrate the value of established industrial property, the week’s biggest land deal demonstrates where investors believe Perth’s next wave of development could occur.

Melbourne-based Troon Group has paid approximately $79.8 million for a 180-hectare industrial development site at 201 Stock Road, Bullsbrook.

It is Troon’s first Perth investment.

The scale is substantial.

180 hectares equals approximately 1.8 million square metres of land.

Troon intends to progress an existing approval and subdivide the property into approximately 130 industrial lots for sale and lease, with the first release expected to reach the market next year.

This isn’t simply an industrial property acquisition.

It is the creation of a future employment precinct.

Bought & Sold: almost $160 million tells a bigger story

Put the major transactions together:

• 201 Stock Road, Bullsbrook — $79.8m
• 111–121 McDowell Street, Welshpool — $31.3m
• 7 Ashby Close, Forrestfield — $26.9m
• 883 Abernethy Road, Forrestfield — $21.05m

Combined:

approximately $159 million.

The transactions span established income-producing assets and raw development land.

That is what makes them particularly interesting.

Capital is targeting both ends of Perth’s industrial market.

Investors want established industrial income.

Developers want future industrial land.

Both strategies are ultimately being supported by the same underlying condition:

scarcity.

Bullsbrook could become one of Perth’s next major industrial growth corridors

Bullsbrook sits approximately 50 kilometres north-east of Perth CBD.

Historically, that distance may have been considered a disadvantage for conventional metropolitan industrial development.

But Perth is expanding.

And large-scale industrial development increasingly requires locations capable of providing something established precincts cannot:

land.

The Stock Road property sits between Tonkin Highway and Great Northern Highway and adjoins the Perth-Geraldton rail corridor.

These transport connections give Bullsbrook long-term logistics potential.

The broader Bullsbrook Industrial Park comprises approximately 186 hectares, with around 165 hectares identified as developable.

The location could ultimately accommodate:

• Warehousing.
• Transport.
• Manufacturing.
• Equipment businesses.
• Construction suppliers.
• Logistics.
• Storage.
• Service industries.

Bullsbrook is already attracting other major land buyers

Troon is not alone.

Approximately three months earlier, Mimaro Group paid around $15 million for a 57-hectare property at 927 Cooper Road, Bullsbrook.

That acquisition reportedly increased Mimaro’s holdings in the area to approximately 150 hectares.

That means multiple sophisticated developers are accumulating significant positions in the same emerging corridor.

This is often how new industrial markets begin.

First comes land accumulation.

Then infrastructure.

Then subdivision.

Then owner-occupiers.

Then larger institutional development.

Eventually, what was once regarded as peripheral industrial land becomes an established employment precinct.

Perth’s eastern industrial corridor is running out of easy options

The logic behind Bullsbrook becomes clearer when looking back toward established Perth.

Welshpool, Kewdale, Forrestfield and surrounding precincts already contain substantial industrial development.

But they cannot expand indefinitely.

Existing businesses compete with new occupiers.

Large sites become difficult to assemble.

Land prices rise.

Older properties are redeveloped.

That gradually pushes businesses requiring larger and cheaper sites farther outward.

This is exactly the process that has created major industrial corridors around Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane.

Perth is now experiencing its own version.

Perth’s vacancy story is more complicated than one number

Recent reporting around major transactions has described Perth industrial vacancy as being below 2%, while developers active in Bullsbrook have referred to vacancy around 1%.

Regardless of the precise methodology used by different market reports, the underlying condition is clear:

available industrial accommodation is extremely limited.

More importantly, vacancy is not evenly distributed.

An occupier may technically have several properties available to choose from, but very few may meet requirements for:

• Size.
• Location.
• Yard.
• Power.
• Clearance.
• Loading.
• Heavy vehicles.
• Lease terms.

Functional vacancy can therefore be considerably tighter than headline vacancy.

Industrial leasing activity is accelerating

CBRE recorded approximately 187,000m² of gross take-up during Q2 2026.

That pushed rolling annual leasing activity to approximately 409,000m², significantly above Perth’s long-run average.

JLL separately recorded 84,700m² of gross take-up across seven major occupier moves of at least 3,000m² during Q2.

The methodologies differ, but both point toward continuing occupier demand.

That matters because investment demand is ultimately supported by businesses needing space.

Rents continue rising

JLL reported prime industrial rents increasing across all Perth precincts during Q2 2026.

CBRE recorded super-prime net face rents approximately 6.5% higher year-on-year.

Earlier Q1 data placed average super-prime net face rents at approximately $165/m², with incentives around 15%.

This is exactly what would be expected in a market where occupier demand remains strong and immediately available stock is limited.

Industrial land values continue moving higher

Land is perhaps the more important part of the story.

CBRE reported owner-occupier activity and constrained serviced land supply pushing values higher across Perth’s industrial precincts during Q2.

The South precinct recorded the strongest annual growth.

In Q1, CBRE reported average values for approximately 0.25-hectare industrial lots reaching $777/m², representing annual growth of around 21.4%.

A 21% annual increase in industrial land value is significant.

And it explains why developers are prepared to look farther from established locations.

Perth’s industrial market is expanding in multiple directions

The future industrial geography of Perth is unlikely to be dominated by a single corridor.

Several precincts are strengthening simultaneously.

East

Welshpool, Kewdale, Forrestfield and Hazelmere remain core logistics and industrial markets.

North

Malaga, Wangara and increasingly Bullsbrook provide expansion opportunities.

South

Bibra Lake, Jandakot, Canning Vale, Wattleup, Henderson and Kwinana provide exposure to logistics, defence, manufacturing and port-related demand.

Each corridor serves slightly different industries.

That diversification is one of Perth’s strengths.

Kwinana and Henderson could become even more important

While the current transactions have focused heavily on Perth’s east and north, the southern industrial corridor may ultimately produce the largest structural change.

Kwinana and Henderson are exposed to:

• Defence.
• Shipbuilding.
• Energy.
• Heavy industry.
• Manufacturing.
• Port infrastructure.
• Logistics.

The Australian Marine Complex at Henderson provides a major industrial anchor.

Defence investment associated with Australia’s future submarine and naval capability has the potential to create substantial secondary demand from contractors and suppliers.

That means industrial land requirements extend well beyond government-controlled facilities.

Private businesses need:

• Workshops.
• Warehouses.
• Engineering facilities.
• Secure yards.
• Offices.
• Manufacturing space.

New industrial accommodation is already being absorbed

At Orion Business Park in Wattleup, a newly developed approximately 1,968m² workshop on 3,037m² of land was recorded as leased on 3 August 2026.

The facility includes provision for a 10-tonne gantry crane and sits close to the Australian Marine Complex between Fremantle and Kwinana.

This type of specialised industrial facility illustrates another component of Perth demand.

Not every occupier wants a generic logistics warehouse.

WA’s resources, engineering, marine and defence industries require specialised property.

Mining continues underpinning Perth’s industrial economy

Perth’s industrial property market cannot be separated from Western Australia’s resources economy.

Mining companies themselves may operate hundreds or thousands of kilometres from Perth.

But their supply chains frequently operate within metropolitan industrial precincts.

This includes:

• Equipment manufacturers.
• Technology companies.
• Engineering firms.
• Maintenance businesses.
• Transport.
• Parts suppliers.
• Laboratories.
• Mining services.

The IMDEX global headquarters at 216 Balcatta Road provides a good example.

The 7,419m² site contains approximately 6,032m² of office, laboratory, warehouse and storage accommodation and generates more than $1.3 million in annual net income. It was brought to market in August.

Resources therefore create demand for far more than traditional warehouses.

Development Applications, Approvals & Projects Progressing

The biggest development story is unquestionably Bullsbrook.

Troon intends to use the existing development pathway for its 180-hectare Stock Road holding and create approximately 130 industrial lots.

The first release is expected in 2027.

This matters because the solution to Perth’s industrial land shortage cannot come solely from redeveloping existing precincts.

New land must be unlocked.

But doing so requires:

• Planning.
• Roads.
• Electricity.
• Sewer and water.
• Drainage.
• Telecommunications.
• Environmental approvals.

This is why an industrial land shortage is often really an infrastructure delivery shortage.

New supply is coming — but much of it is already spoken for

Perth does have a substantial development pipeline.

CBRE reported approximately 65,000m² of new supply delivered during Q2, with further development expected through 2026–28.

But approximately 74% of the forward pipeline is pre-committed.

That fundamentally changes what the headline supply number means.

A 20,000m² warehouse being constructed for a tenant does not create 20,000m² of available market supply.

It satisfies demand that already exists.

The amount of genuinely speculative space entering the market is therefore considerably smaller.

Why investors like land-rich industrial assets

The recent Cosgrove acquisitions reveal another important strategy.

Investors increasingly favour properties where existing buildings occupy only part of a substantial landholding.

These assets provide multiple layers of value.

Existing income

Tenants generate immediate cash flow.

Land appreciation

Industrial scarcity can increase the value of the underlying site.

Expansion

Additional buildings may be possible.

Redevelopment

Older facilities can eventually be replaced with higher-value improvements.

Intensification

More floor area can potentially be developed on the same land.

In a market where industrial land is becoming difficult to replace, this optionality becomes increasingly valuable.

Owner-occupiers are competing with investors

Institutional capital isn’t the only source of pressure.

Perth businesses are also purchasing their own facilities.

For an established company, ownership can provide:

• Occupancy certainty.
• Expansion capability.
• Control over property costs.
• Operational flexibility.
• Exposure to land appreciation.

CBRE specifically identifies owner-occupier demand as one of the factors driving Perth industrial land values higher.

This creates competition between buyers with completely different motivations.

An investor calculates yield.

An owner-occupier may calculate the strategic value of controlling its premises for the next 20 years.

That can make pricing highly competitive.

Why Perth industrial is attracting interstate capital

Troon’s first Perth acquisition is particularly notable because the buyer is Melbourne-based.

Perth increasingly offers institutional and development investors a combination of:

• Strong population growth.
• Resources exposure.
• Tight vacancy.
• Rising rents.
• Land scarcity.
• Infrastructure investment.
• Defence investment.
• Comparatively attractive yields.

It also provides geographic diversification away from Sydney and Melbourne.

The $79.8 million Bullsbrook acquisition demonstrates that interstate developers are prepared to make very substantial bets on Perth’s long-term industrial growth.

The next opportunity may be outside today’s established industrial map

Perhaps the most important lesson from Bullsbrook is that Perth’s next major industrial opportunity may not be inside an existing industrial precinct.

As established locations tighten, businesses and developers are forced to look outward.

That makes infrastructure corridors increasingly important.

Areas with combinations of:

• Highway access.
• Rail.
• Available land.
• Power.
• Planning support.

can move rapidly from peripheral locations to strategic employment areas.

The same process has already occurred elsewhere in Australia.

Truganina was once Melbourne’s outer fringe.

Yatala was once considered halfway between Brisbane and the Gold Coast.

Kemps Creek was once largely rural land west of Sydney.

Today they are major industrial markets.

Bullsbrook could represent Perth’s version of that transition.

What developers should watch through 2026–27

Several factors will determine how Perth’s industrial market develops over the next 18 months.

• Bullsbrook industrial land releases.
• Continued land-value growth.
• Further interstate investment.
• Industrial vacancy.
• Speculative development levels.
• Rental growth.
• Power availability.
• Defence investment around Henderson.
• Kwinana industrial expansion.
• Westport planning.
• Resources-sector investment.
• Owner-occupier demand.
• Infrastructure delivery in emerging precincts.

The balance between supply and demand will be particularly important.

If development slows while most new projects remain heavily pre-committed, Perth could experience another period of significant rental pressure.

Perth’s industrial land squeeze is becoming an investment thesis

The latest transactions show that investors are positioning for two outcomes simultaneously.

In established precincts, they are buying scarcity.

In emerging precincts, they are buying future supply.

Cosgrove’s Welshpool and Forrestfield acquisitions provide exposure to some of Perth’s most tightly held industrial land.

Troon’s Bullsbrook acquisition provides control over enough land to create an entirely new industrial estate.

Both strategies ultimately rely on the same assumption:

Perth’s economy will require substantially more industrial property.

Current leasing activity supports that view.

Rental growth supports it.

Land-value growth supports it.

And the amount of capital now entering the market suggests sophisticated investors increasingly believe the shortage will not disappear quickly.

The most interesting question is therefore no longer whether Perth needs more industrial land.

It is:

where will the next generation of Perth industrial land actually come from?

Positioning Perth industrial land ahead of the next growth cycle

As competition for industrial land increases, developers need to communicate more than a site’s dimensions and zoning.

Buyers, tenants and investors need to understand why the location matters and what the precinct will become.

Commercial Property Marketing helps developers, landowners and commercial agencies position future industrial projects before construction is complete.

The objective is to:

• Increase the perceived and realised value of industrial land.
• Accelerate industrial land sales.
• Secure tenants earlier.
• Demonstrate future estates before construction.
• Clearly communicate road, rail, port and infrastructure advantages.
• Position emerging industrial corridors ahead of competing precincts.
• Help buyers understand long-term development potential.
• Give agents stronger material to take directly to market.
• Improve investor and stakeholder confidence.
• Differentiate strategic land from generic industrial property.
• Reduce the time between project launch and commercial commitment.
• Ultimately extract more value from commercial and industrial property.

Perth’s current industrial investment activity provides a clear reminder:

when developable land becomes scarce, the ability to clearly communicate its future value becomes increasingly important.