The Golden Question – when is the right time to sell?
It's the question every accommodation property owner eventually asks themselves and there's rarely a single, obvious answer. But there are signals worth paying attention to, and vendors who read them well tend to walk away with better outcomes than those who wait for a "perfect" moment that never quite arrives.
Timing a sale around your own circumstances - for example retirement, a change in personal goals, or wanting to free up capital is natural. But the market doesn't wait for your timeline, and the strongest results come when personal readiness lines up with market conditions. Right now we're seeing sustained buyer demand for well-run, franchised accommodation assets across the country, particularly properties backed by strong brands. That demand doesn't last forever - cycles shift, interest rates move, and buyer appetite changes with them. If conditions are favourable today, that's worth weighing seriously against waiting for a hypothetical better one.
Buyers pay for performance and for the story behind it. If your occupancy, RevPAR and net profit has been trending upward over the past 12–24 months, you're in a strong position to sell on a growth narrative which typically commands a premium. If performance has plateaued or dipped, it doesn't necessarily mean you shouldn't sell, but it does change the conversation about pricing and how the sale is positioned.
If selling a lease, the tenure remaining is hugely important. Tenure is gold. Capital works also loom large in buyer due diligence. If your property is due for a refurbishment or facing upcoming compliance costs, selling before that spend is required (and disclosing it transparently) can sometimes net a better outcome than funding the works yourself and hoping to recover the cost in the sale price. This is very property-specific, so it's worth an honest conversation rather than a rule of thumb.
A few patterns we see consistently among vendors who sell at the right moment:
Buyer enquiry in your asset class has been strong and consistent, not just a one-off spike
Your property's performance is stable or improving - not declining
You have clarity on lease/franchise terms with good tenure remaining (ideally 20+ years for a leasehold)
The property is not in the middle of market reviews or capital works
Your personal or business reasons for selling are genuine, not just reactive to a bad month or a rumour in the market
You've had at least an informal conversation with a broker about current valuations, rather than relying on what the property was worth a few years ago
One of the most important pattern is UPSIDE…there is upside for the next owner!
There's no formula that spits out a definitive answer to this golden question. The best way to know is to get an up-to-date read on where your property sits against current market appetite, and weigh that against your own readiness. A conversation with a broker who's actively transacting similar businesses costs you nothing and often reframes the decision. Sometimes confirming it's a strong time to go to market, sometimes showing there's real value in waiting six or twelve months.