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A certified valuer will listen to your situation and answer any questions you may have, at no cost.
A reformer pilates studio in Cremorne or a 24-hour club in Pakenham: valued on how long members stay and what they pay, not on how many signed up in January.
Melbourne gyms and fitness studios are valued mainly on comparable sales of similar formats, expressed as a multiple of maintainable earnings. Where a business lands in that range depends on member retention, average tenure, how much revenue sits on minimum-term contracts rather than month to month, the equipment finance and the time left on the lease.
Most valuations follow a decision about ownership. A boutique studio owner in Richmond is selling to an operator with several sites. A franchisee in Point Cook needs a price agreed before the franchisor approves a transfer. Two partners in a Collingwood strength gym are going separate ways. A property settlement needs the business valued at a fixed date, a lender wants a figure before refinancing the equipment, or a restructure needs a market value the ATO will accept.
Gyms are also bought and sold on the wrong number surprisingly often. A member count says nothing about how many of those members will still be paying in a year, at what price, or how many unpaid hours the owner puts in behind the front desk. A valuation turns attention to the earnings the members reliably produce once the owner is paid a proper wage and the equipment is replaced when it wears out.
A certified valuer will listen to your situation and answer any questions you may have, at no cost.
The Market Approach leads. Studios and clubs sell often enough in Melbourne that recent transactions are more reliable evidence than a model built on optimistic member growth.
Comparable sales are grouped by format first: 24-hour access club, boutique class-based studio, franchise or independent. They are then matched on catchment, floor area, member base and remaining lease, and the resulting multiple is applied to maintainable earnings.
Capitalised earnings carry more weight where members are on genuine minimum-term contracts, because contracted revenue can be forecast with some confidence. A discounted cash flow is used where an equipment replacement or a rent review falls due in the next few years, since those costs land in particular years and a single multiple cannot show them.
The owner is replaced by a manager at market cost, and any classes or personal training the owner delivers are costed at a market rate before earnings are capitalised. For an owner-run studio, this is the check that tells you most.
Equipment and fit-out at what they would sell for, less the finance still owed on them. Fitness equipment loses value quickly and is often financed close to its worth, so the net contribution of the assets is usually smaller than owners expect.
Valuers most often part company over normalisation, so every adjustment is listed in the report alongside the reason for making it. In fitness businesses the recurring ones are:
Format and catchment decide which sales are comparable. Boutique reformer, yoga and class studios in Cremorne, Richmond, Fitzroy and Collingwood earn a high average fee per member from small, expensive spaces on short leases. The 24-hour clubs in Pakenham, Cranbourne, Werribee and Point Cook run on volume, lower fees and large floor plates in newer estates. They are different businesses, and an average of the two produces a multiple that suits neither.
Melbourne's recent trading history needs care. Gyms across the city were closed for long stretches during the 2020 and 2021 lockdowns, and those years, the recovery that followed and any support payments are no guide to maintainable earnings. The valuation relies on the years since, read with the city's seasonal pattern in mind: sign-ups tend to cluster around the start of the year and cancellations tend to follow as the weather cools. A business that can show its churn by month and by membership type is valued with more confidence than one that cannot.
The lease is the usual ceiling on value. A fitness fit-out is costly and cannot be moved, so a buyer needs enough unexpired term to earn it back. Where the premises fall under the Retail Leases Act 2003 (Vic), disputes with the landlord go first to the Victorian Small Business Commission, and a dispute that is still open will be discounted. All of this sits within a growing business base: Victoria finished 2025 to 2026 with a net 19,581 more actively trading businesses, out of 2,814,778 nationally (Source: ABS, Counts of Australian Businesses, July 2022 to June 2026, released 18 August 2026). A growing count does not lift any one gym's value, though; the lease and the members do.
Every report states its purpose, the standard of value, the valuation date and the information relied on, including the membership system exports, and identifies where that information is thin. It then explains each approach considered and the method chosen under it, sets out every normalisation adjustment and its reason, and reconciles the results into a range with the weighting explained in words.
In a dispute between gym partners or a contested sale, that reconciliation is where the argument happens. If the report cannot explain why the comparable sales were preferred to the capitalised earnings, or how the churn assumption was set, a second expert will pull it apart, whether in the County Court of Victoria or in a property settlement in the Melbourne registry of the Federal Circuit and Family Court. Our reports are prepared consistently with APESB, APES 225 Valuation Services and are signed by a credentialed certified valuer who will explain and defend them.
Which assumption about my members would another expert challenge first, and what would you say? If there is no ready answer, the valuation is not finished.
An Indicative valuation suits an owner who wants to test an asking price or a buyer's offer before committing. It is for internal decision-making and is not written for third party reliance. A Summary report fits a sale, a franchise transfer or an equipment refinance. A Detailed report is the level for a property settlement, a partner dispute or any engagement where another expert will review the work.
Let the likely reader decide. If a court, a lender, the ATO or another expert may test the opinion, the report has to be the fuller one.
For internal decision-making. Useful for testing an offer, setting an expectation before a negotiation, or deciding whether to go to market. It is not written for third party reliance.
Sets out the approaches applied, the normalisation adjustments made and the reasoning behind the conclusion. The usual choice for a sale, an ownership change or a finance application.
Applies and reconciles all relevant approaches in full. The level required where a court, the ATO, a lender or another expert will review the opinion.
Talk your situation through with a certified valuer before you commit to anything, at no cost.