HtAG opens Commercial Dex to help investors screen Australian council markets

HtAG Analytics has launched Commercial Dex in open beta, giving Australian investors a council-by-council commercial property screening tool that matches industrial, office and retail opportunities to budgets and return targets. The launch adds fresh market data through September 2026 and aims to help buyers shortlist locations before they inspect listings.

Why it matters: - Commercial Dex shifts commercial property research earlier in the buying process, so investors can compare locations before chasing individual listings. - The tool is built for private investors, SMSF trustees, owner-occupiers and buyers agents who need a faster way to narrow where to look. - HtAG says the product is designed to show where data is strong, where it is thin and where a council should be flagged rather than ranked.

What happened: - HtAG Analytics opened Commercial Dex to all members as an open beta. - The tool compares 544 Australian council areas across industrial, office and retail property. - The database uses market data to 30 September 2026. - The launch includes a free commercial property heatmap for all users, with no card required. - Commercial Dex is available now from the Tools menu.

The details: - Commercial Dex scores councils against an investor brief built around budget, floor area, income, growth and return targets. - Users can add loan-to-value ratio, interest rate, outgoings, vacancy allowance, interest cover, cash-on-cash return and a spread over a risk-free rate. - A $2.5 million budget for 800 square metres, with 5% purchase costs, becomes a ceiling of $2,976 per square metre. - Owner-occupiers get a shorter brief focused on price, floor area and time to sell. - Only councils with enough evidence are ranked fairly: 166 for industrial, 152 for office and 185 for retail. - Councils with insufficient evidence remain visible on the map but are flagged instead of ranked. - Results fall into three buckets: Meets your brief, Potential fit and Outside your brief. - In a worked example, Townsville met a $1 million brief for 300 square metres. - In the same example, Cardinia had a similar yield but failed the time-to-sell test. - Greater Dandenong was over budget and failed the yield tests. - Each council has a plain-English page covering leasing, selling and the local economy. - Each page ends with a “Before you inspect” checklist covering lease terms, tenant strength, outgoings, incentives, vacancy risk and zoning. - Users can compare up to five councils side by side and download a PDF brief or spreadsheet.

Between the lines: - Australian commercial property research still skews toward CBDs and major precincts, which can push smaller investors to work backward from listings. - HtAG is trying to reverse that process by making council-level location screening the first step. - The product also acknowledges commercial data gaps instead of smoothing them over, which may make the rankings more cautious but also more usable. - HtAG says Elite members tested the tool before launch and helped reshape parts of it. - Commercial Dex is general market information for shortlisting, not a valuation, forecast of returns or financial advice.

What's next: - HtAG says features and data may change during the beta. - Brief and ranking access are included with the Investor plan. - Business community trends, approved building work and vacant or tenanted listings are included with the Professional plan. - HtAG is continuing to publish guides based on Commercial Dex data.

The details: - HtAG published five new guides alongside the launch using data to 30 September 2026. - Retail-type businesses grew in 18% of council areas over the latest two years, compared with 41% for industrial-type businesses and 46% for office-type businesses. - Industrial made up 47% of approved non-residential building work in Australia in the 12 months to July 2026. - Office accounted for 27% of that work, while retail accounted for 26%. - Greater Brisbane had the longest typical remaining lease term on commercial property for sale among the five largest capital cities, at 4.4 years. - Industrial property for sale was mostly vacant in Greater Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane and Perth. - Retail property for sale was mostly offered with a tenant.

The bottom line: - Commercial Dex is HtAG’s bet that better location screening, plus clearer confidence grading, can help investors make faster and less guesswork-heavy commercial property decisions.