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COMMERCIAL property buyers are increasingly eyeing Australian petrol stations as the Iran war puts the low-key asset class in the spotlight as critical infrastructure.
That’s the view of Ray White Group head of research Vanessa Rader, who said soaring fuel costs – since the Iran conflict erupted in February – have sparked more interest in petrol stations.
They are now “essential charging infrastructure” in Australia’s energy transition, she said.
The assessment comes amid claims the US military action in Iran may have unintentionally hastened a permanent global shift away from internal combustion engines to electric vehicles.
Rader echoed the conclusion, saying with the wholesale price of petrol jumping from 194 cents to 229 cents per litre in a week, many Australians are looking to get off petrol.
“For the average Australian motorist, that is not an abstraction, it is felt immediately at the bowser, and it is the single biggest driver of EV enquiry we are seeing reflected in wait times stretching to three months for new vehicles,” Rader told AC.
Rapid EV take-up and residential charging constraints are also playing a part in fundamentally altering the service station investment thesis, Rader said.
“Far from facing obsolescence in an electric future, these properties have emerged as critical dual-purpose infrastructure, and the transaction market reflected that confidence,” she said.
According to the economist, total transaction volumes in the market hit $867.9 million in 2025 across 175 petrol stations, representing a 16.5 per cent increase on 2024. This marked a “continuation of the recovery from the trough recorded in 2023, when tighter lending conditions weighed on activity across most commercial property sectors”.
Also positive is more types of buyers getting into the market, with private investors now accounting for 85.1 per cent of acquisitions alongside listed funds and private syndicates, she said.
On the most valuable transactions in the market, she said they tend to be “integrated quick service restaurant offerings”.
“Investors increasingly value service stations not merely as fuel retail sites but as strategically located properties anchored by quality QSR [quick service restaurant] tenants,” Rader said.
“Quick service restaurants have emerged as an asset class in their own right, with investors attracted to their predictable cash flows, strong tenant covenants and proven performance through economic cycles. When combined with fuel retail on high-traffic sites, these properties create diversified income streams less dependent on any single revenue source.”
Queensland-based commercial finance broker Nadine Connell agrees with the view that petrol stations with “diversified income streams” are on buyers’ radars.
The Smart Business Plans founder says the most attractive assets have convenience retail, car wash, fast-food tenants and now, EV charging infrastructure alongside the bowsers.
“The days of a single-purpose fuel site commanding easy terms are largely behind us,” Connell told AC. “But a well-configured, income-diversified service station is one of the more bankable commercial assets I see cross my desk.”
According to the broker, some lenders are already stress-testing fuel volume trajectory in serviceability modelling, particularly for metro sites where EV penetration is highest.
In her opinion, operators who invest now in rapid charger infrastructure, expanded convenience retail and alternative income streams will be in a stronger position when it comes time to refinance or sell.
“Long term, the sites that will hold value are the ones with the physical footprint and the tenant mix to function as something broader than a fuel stop,” Connell said.
“The essential service nature of the asset, particularly in regional areas, does give certain sites a defensiveness that appeals to some lenders. But that advantage disappears quickly if the site is single-purpose, has contamination history or sits in a market where fuel volume is already declining.”
While the Iran war has put the petrol station market in the spotlight, consolidation has been happening out of the headlines since 2010. That was when larger operators such as Ampol, Caltex and 7-Eleven started acquiring smaller players to boost their market share.
Opteon, an independent provider of valuation, advisory and property services, says a notable example is Ampol’s acquisition of the Caltex brand in 2020, which allowed it to expand its footprint, streamline operations and improve efficiency.
“This consolidation often leads to the closure of smaller operators who struggle to compete with their scale and resources,” Opteon said in a statement, adding the market concentration also worked to lift the value of the assets by 20-30 per cent, making them more attractive to buyers.
The asset class was also buoyed by the COVID-19 pandemic, which shuttered public transport and saw many people hit the road for getaways.
There was also the rise in convenience retailing while coronavirus restrictions were in place, which lifted demand.
Scott O’Neill, from Rethink Investing, a buyer’s agency for high cash-flow commercial properties, is upbeat on petrol stations in the current geopolitical climate.
He describes the real estate class as “a genuinely interesting asset class and one we are paying closer attention to”.
“They sit in an interesting middle ground in our investment hierarchy,” O’Neill said.
“We see stronger and more consistent demand for industrial, medical and essential retail assets, but petrol stations are meaningfully ahead of office in terms of investor appetite and income reliability right now.”
O’Neill described them as “worth serious consideration, particularly for investors who understand the nuances”.
With the Iran war leading to fuel shortages at Australian petrol stations and claims of fuel stockpiling by motorists, O’Neill points to solid near-term demand for fuel.
“Fuel consumption remains strong despite the EV narrative and these assets are performing well for investors who bought well located sites with quality tenants. Long term the story is more nuanced,” he told AC.
“The EV transition is real, even if it is slower than the headlines suggest, and investors need to be thinking about how these sites evolve over a 15 to 20-year horizon.
“The good news is that well-located petrol stations are the natural home for EV charging infrastructure, so the land retains its strategic value even as the use case shifts.”
On a state-by-state basis, O’Neill points to robust investment fundamentals, especially in Queensland and Western Australia.
He described those two states as the most attractive markets for the property type at present given high population growth, elevated vehicle dependency and lower entry prices.
“Sydney and Melbourne have seen significant yield compression and the risk reward is less compelling at current prices,” he said. “Highway service centres and arterial road locations in growth corridors are where we see the best long-term fundamentals.”
Rader adds there has also been strong buyer activity in Brisbane and Adelaide “demonstrating that well-located suburban nodes can attract institutional-quality capital regardless of market size”.
Petrol stations in these areas tend to “occupy prominent main road sites, generate diversified income streams and are structurally positioned to capture the growing EV charging market as residential solutions remain years away for much of the apartment-dwelling population,” she said.
Even so, O’Neill urges an appreciation of downside risks.
He points to “tenancy concentration” as the one big risk for investors getting into the area.
“If your single tenant exits you have a specialised asset that is not easy to repurpose in the short term,” he said.
“Environmental contamination liability from underground fuel storage requires careful due diligence and can be costly.
“And while we see the EV transition as a long-term opportunity rather than a threat, the pace and capital requirements of that transition introduce real uncertainty.
“These are not set-and-forget assets in the way a well-located industrial or medical property can be.”
The themes at work are similar overseas, including the UK where the Iran war has sparked higher fuel prices and highlighted the importance of petrol stations for EV charging.
Christie & Co, a specialist UK-based business and property adviser, said more diversification of income streams and adoption of EVs has also “served to support the demand for these types of businesses from both existing and new operators”.
Private investors looking for relatively high yields in comparison with traditional savings rates, as well as operators with prior knowledge of the sector, have become increasingly active, the firm said.
Deepak Shukla, CEO of UK-based Pearl Lemon Properties, said investors in the space are winning from the Iran war fallout on fuel and EV take-up.
“EV adoption is real and, yes, fuel demand will shift but that doesn’t mean the underlying real estate suddenly becomes irrelevant overnight,” Shukla told AC.
“In fact, as charging times increase dwell time, the economics of what you can layer on to those sites becomes far more interesting than the fuel itself.”
Shukla said the revenue mix is already changing.
“It’s just happening unevenly, which creates pricing inefficiencies in the market,” he said. “If you’re underwriting these assets purely on fuel throughput, you’re missing half the story and maybe more, which is a bit of a dangerous game in today’s environment.”