Business valuations on the Gold Coast
We value Gold Coast businesses across tourism and hospitality, construction, marine, health and professional services — with the seasonality analysis those sectors demand.
The Gold Coast is Australia’s sixth largest city and its business base is unusually seasonal and unusually lease-dependent. Both change how a valuation must be built: a three-year average that ignores seasonality misprices a Broadbeach venue, and a multiple applied without reading the lease misprices it again.
The local business base
Seasonal, lease-dependent and growing fast
The Gold Coast economy runs on tourism and hospitality through Surfers Paradise, Broadbeach and Burleigh Heads; construction and development across the whole city; marine and boat-building around Coomera and the Gold Coast Marine Precinct; and a substantial health and knowledge sector clustered around Southport and the Gold Coast University Hospital. Bundall carries much of the professional and commercial office base, and Yatala, Ormeau and Molendinar hold the industrial estates.
Two structural features matter for valuation. Seasonality is real and pronounced, so the maintainable earnings period and the weighting applied to it need to be justified explicitly rather than defaulted to a three-year average. And a very high share of Gold Coast businesses trade from leased premises in high-demand locations, which makes lease term the single largest non-financial driver of value.
Business centres we work across
- Southport
- Bundall
- Surfers Paradise
- Broadbeach
- Burleigh Heads
- Robina
- Coomera
- Yatala
- Molendinar
- Nerang
- Palm Beach
- Varsity Lakes
What we are most often asked to value here
- Cafés, restaurants and licensed venues through the tourist strip
- Building, civil and trade contracting businesses across the city
- Marine, boat-building and servicing operations around Coomera
- Medical, dental and allied health practices around Southport and Robina
- Short-stay and accommodation management businesses
The numbers
Multiples for the main sectors in the Gold Coast
Indicative EBITDA multiples for the sectors that dominate this area. Ranges are national; the local note explains what tends to move a the Gold Coast business within its band.
Scroll the table sideways →
| Sector | Multiple | Local note |
|---|---|---|
| Hospitality & retail | 1.8×–3.0× | Lease term and seasonality decide where in the band a venue sits |
| Construction | 2.0×–3.5× | Forward order book matters more here than in any other QLD market |
| Healthcare & medical | 3.0×–5.0× | Southport and Robina practices trade well where practitioners are contracted |
| Professional services | 2.5×–4.0× | Bundall firms often carry heavier principal dependence than CBD equivalents |
| Manufacturing | 3.0×–4.5× | Marine and fabrication at Coomera and Yatala need an evidenced plant schedule |
| Transport & logistics | 2.5×–4.0× | M1 corridor operators benefit from contracted lanes over spot work |
Orientation only, not a valuation. See all fourteen sectors or run the value range calculator.
Local factors
What is specific about valuing a Gold Coast business
Seasonality must be modelled, not averaged
A tourism-exposed business can earn most of its annual profit in four months. Weighting a three-year average without adjusting for the shape of the year, and for whether the most recent season was typical, produces a number neither a buyer nor a court will accept.
The lease is often the asset
A venue with eight years of term and options in a prime Broadbeach or Burleigh position is a fundamentally different proposition from an identical business with two years left. We read the lease before we weight the earnings, because it frequently caps the multiple regardless of profit.
Owner-operator concentration is high
The Gold Coast has an unusually high share of owner-operated businesses in hospitality, trades and services. Separating transferable goodwill from personal goodwill is therefore the most contested part of most local valuations, particularly in family law matters.
Working with us from the Gold Coast
How an engagement in the Gold Coast runs
Gold Coast engagements run the same way as Brisbane ones — records travel electronically and most of the work happens at the desk. We travel to the Coast regularly, so a site inspection for a venue, a marine operation or a plant-heavy business is easily arranged.
Our valuation office is at 4/144 Edward Street, Brisbane City. We do not maintain a shopfront in every location we serve — a valuation is not a service that benefits from one, and pretending otherwise would be the first thing an opposing expert questioned.
Book a free scoping call →- Free scoping call Fifteen minutes to establish the purpose, the standard of value, the entities involved and your deadline. You get a fixed fee in writing the same day.
- Records sent electronically Financial statements, tax returns, management accounts, the asset register and contracts. One consolidated request, not a drip feed.
- Site attendance where it matters We travel to the Gold Coast regularly and can usually attend within a week, sooner where a court date or transaction timetable requires it. Marine assets, plant and fit-out are inspected and valued in-house.
- Report and debrief The signed valuation, then a call to walk through the conclusion, the assumptions, and what would change the number.
Local questions
Valuing a business in the Gold Coast
General questions on cost, timing and documents are on the full FAQ page.
Ask a valuerYes, regularly. Most engagements do not require a site visit at all, but where a business holds significant plant, stock, marine assets or a fit-out that needs inspecting, we attend — usually within a week, and sooner where a deadline applies. Travel is included in the fixed fee quoted up front.
By modelling it rather than averaging it. We look at the shape of the trading year, whether recent seasons were typical, and how much of the earnings base is exposed to visitor numbers. The maintainable earnings period and weighting are then stated and justified in the report, because that is the first assumption an opposing expert tests.
Substantially. For any business whose earnings depend on its location, remaining lease term and option structure are valued as directly as profit. A short remaining term reduces what a buyer will pay because they are buying limited certainty, and it will show up as an explicit adjustment rather than a footnote.
Yes. We accept single expert and shadow expert appointments in family law and commercial matters and attend the Southport registry where required.
Yes. Coomera and the surrounding marine precinct businesses are typically valued on earnings with a substantial net asset cross-check, and the vessels, plant and specialised equipment are valued in-house by a Certified Asset Valuer.
Reviewed by a Certified Practising Valuer
Reviewed by Jarrad Khoury, Director and Head of Valuations — Registered Valuer (QLD, Not Limited), Licensed Valuer (WA, Not Limited), CPV and CBV. Published by Business Valuations Brisbane, the business valuation division of Asset Valuations Group.
Last reviewed
A Gold Coast valuation that accounts for the season.
A free 15-minute scoping call, then a fixed fee in writing. No obligation, and nothing you send leaves our office.
1300 778 033