What it costs to buy a bed and breakfast in Australia

Bed and breakfasts and guesthouses are listed from about $895,000 for a three-room freehold in the Barossa to $4.2m for a seven-room Byron Bay guesthouse. Most five to nine-room properties ask $1.5m to $3.4m. Land and buildings drive the price, and only one of the 12 listings we checked publishes a net profit.

A bed and breakfast is priced as a property first and a business second. That is why a three-room Barossa guesthouse can ask $895,000 while a seven-room Byron Bay guesthouse asks $4.2m, and why a Tasmanian home with rooms to let asks $1.15m on about $114,000 of trading. Land, location, room count and approvals move the price, and few vendors publish profit. This guide sets out what 12 live listings across five states ask, the price per room, the costs and council rules on top, and how lenders treat a purchase that is part home and part business.

What bed and breakfasts sell for

If you are weighing a bigger accommodation business, read our guide to buying a motel or our guide to buying a caravan park. A bed and breakfast sits below both: fewer rooms, usually an owner on site, and a price that is mostly land and buildings. The table surveys live listings on Bsale, AnyBusiness and Lifestyle Businesses Australia on 22 October 2026. Figures are the vendor's, indicative market data and not Ventas offers.

Three things stand out. Seven of the 12 state freehold, and the one lease-based listing, Leura at $389,000, asks a fraction of the rest. Few vendors publish profit: only Redcliffe shows a net profit, Tanunda and East Launceston show turnover, and Swansea says financial statements are not provided. And some listings are really property sales: Yea is vacant and not trading, and Bright reports low occupancy, so the buyer is paying for land with the business as upside. Every figure is a vendor claim until it matches tax returns, BAS and bank statements.

We found no current Western Australian freehold B&B. The two on Bsale's Western Australian B&B page, at Albany and Wagin, are marked sold. IBISWorld counts 720 bed and breakfast accommodation businesses in Australia in 2026, up 3.4 per cent on 2025.

How a bed and breakfast is priced

We found no published Australian multiple for bed and breakfasts, and the listings give little to build one from. They do show room counts. The table divides each asking price by the rooms stated, so it is our arithmetic. Swansea and Mount Eliza include an owner's house.

The spread is wide because the buildings differ. Byron Bay at $600,000 a room is a location price near Main Beach, while Swansea at about $214,000 buys a regional site and a house.

Redcliffe's $2,350,000 is about 12 times its $193,682 net profit after add-backs, a return of about 8.2 per cent (our arithmetic). Tanunda's rooms at $250, $250 and $295 a night would bring in about $290,000 if full every night, so its $130,000 plus of turnover is roughly 45 per cent of full-house revenue, and may include tour and bike hire income (our arithmetic). East Launceston shows the other pattern: $113,800 of letting in 50 weeks against an ask above $1.1m, so the building carries most of the price.

These are asking prices, not sale prices. Ask for the add-backs behind any profit figure and the booking history behind any occupancy claim.

What you pay on top of the price

The asking price is rarely the cheque. These costs sit on top, and a lender will want to see them covered.

Duty depends on the state and the contract. The contract should split the price between land, furniture and equipment, and goodwill. The Queensland figure above applies the general rates to the whole $1.8m with no concession, so treat it as an example, not a quote.

GST. A going concern sale is GST-free if it is for payment, the buyer is registered or required to be, both sides agree in writing, and the seller supplies everything needed to keep operating and trades to the day of supply (ATO). Ask your accountant how the owner's residence is treated inside the sale.

Council, building and licence rules

Approval rules are set by councils, so the same house can be treated differently a few kilometres apart.

Our reading: these B&B definitions stop at three to six bedrooms or guests, so the five to nine room properties in the first table are usually approved as tourist or visitor accommodation instead. Ask the vendor for the current planning consent for the actual number of guests, and have your solicitor check it.

Building class matters too. A guest house of no more than 300 square metres where not more than 12 people would ordinarily be resident is Class 1b under the National Construction Code. Anything bigger or busier is Class 3, a different building class that can carry heavier fire and access requirements. Ask for the building certificate or occupancy permit that matches the use.

Food and licences. Mornington Peninsula Shire, for example, lists B&B premises as Class 3A, which needs Council registration and a food safety supervisor. Other councils classify differently. If the sale includes a liquor licence, ask your solicitor to make settlement conditional on its transfer.

Financing a bed and breakfast purchase

Lenders treat a bed and breakfast as a home and a business at once, and they do not agree on which matters more. One published broker page says a B&B that works as an ordinary home may borrow up to 90 per cent of the price if you are employed, and up to 80 per cent if you rely on B&B income. A property that can only be used as a B&B is treated as commercial: freehold up to 70 per cent of property value, leasehold up to 50 per cent of business value. Hiring professional staff makes it "specialised" and cuts borrowing power. So a small B&B that could work as a home tends to be assessed as a residence with an income stream, and a larger or specialised one as commercial property. That is one summary: other lenders differ, and some will say no. Ventas is a finance broker, not a lender, so we do not quote rates here.

The loan is sized off the lender's valuation, not your contract price, so paying above valuation means funding the gap yourself. And a loan mainly for the home you live in can be consumer credit, while one mainly for the business generally is not. ASIC reads "predominantly" as more than 50 per cent.

Illustrative only, subject to lender assessment. A realistic purchase at a $1,800,000 asking price, a six-room freehold B&B with an owner's residence:

And how it is typically funded across lender types:

Debt here is 60 per cent of the price, under the 70 per cent a lender might allow on a commercial freehold, which leaves room if the valuation lands below the price. Furniture and fittings rarely get their own equipment finance because they resell poorly. A property-backed loan against your home or another property can fund the equity gap, and we explain releasing equity from your home for your business separately. The cost is that your property is at risk if the business fails.

What makes a bed and breakfast deal fundable:

• A building that works without the business. A property a valuer can price as a home or guesthouse.
• Trading history. Two to three years of financials that reconcile to lodged BAS and bank statements, plus booking-platform history.
• Approvals. Current planning consent and building certificate for the real number of guests.
• Debt cover. Income that covers repayments. The broker page above cites a debt service cover ratio over 1.
• You. Accommodation or hospitality experience, and a deposit from cash or property security.

To get a number from Ventas, send the listing, the room count, the vendor's split between land, plant and goodwill, two to three years of financials and BAS, the planning and building approvals, and the security you can offer. Start at business acquisition finance or see commercial property finance. Finance is subject to lender assessment and approval.

This is general information only and not financial, credit, or tax advice. Figures are indicative market data from the sources listed, not Ventas offers, and move with the market. Consider your own circumstances and speak to a professional. All finance is subject to lender assessment and approval.

This article is general information only and not financial, credit, or tax advice. Ventas Asset Lending is a finance broker, not a lender. Approvals are subject to lender assessment. Consider your own circumstances and speak to a qualified professional, including your accountant for any tax questions.