Global rate jitters freeze Bendigo commercial deals as buyers sit on their hands

Bendigo’s commercial property market has hit a midwinter freeze. Agents along Mitchell Street say deal flow has dropped more than 40% compared with the same period last year, as global rate uncertainty and the fallout from last week’s nationwide Telstra outage chill investor appetite.

The numbers are stark. According to the Real Estate Institute of Victoria’s latest regional data, commercial listings in Greater Bendigo sat at 47 in late June, up from 33 a year earlier, but the clearance rate at auction has slumped to 52%, down from 69% in 2025.

Why global jitters hit Mitchell Street

Two forces are colliding. The US Federal Reserve has signalled it may hold rates higher for longer, while the Reserve Bank of Australia faces a tricky August board meeting with inflation still above target. That uncertainty has pushed three Bendigo buyers, two from Melbourne and one from Sydney, to pull out of negotiations on retail properties in the 3500 postcode this month alone, according to two local agencies.

Then came the Telstra crisis. The July 9 outage, which knocked out voice and data services for much of central Victoria, has left business owners questioning the reliability of digital infrastructure. A Bendigo café owner on View Street told me he lost an entire morning’s card transactions and is now reconsidering his point-of-sale contract. That kind of jitteriness does not help when you are trying to sell a strata office or a corner shop.

Bendigo’s commercial heart, the stretch from the Pall Mall intersection down to Hopetoun Street, has seen two planned settlements delayed since the outage, according to a settlement agent who asked not to be named. Buyers are waiting to see if Telstra compensates affected businesses before signing cheques.

Local deals still happening, but smaller

Not all is grim. The Bendigo Business Council reports that take-up of small warehouse space in the Epsom industrial estate has actually ticked up 12% in the past quarter, as operators downsize from larger premises to cut overheads. A 250-square-metre unit on Ellwood Lease recently leased for $320 per square metre, down from $355 a year ago, a sign that tenants are negotiating harder.

But the big stuff is stuck. A prominent retail property on the corner of Mitchell and Mundy Streets, a site that last traded for $1.8 million, has been sitting on the market since April with no offers above $1.5 million. The vendor, a local family trust, is now considering leasing instead.

Meanwhile, Bendigo’s housing price fall, CoreLogic data shows median house values dropped 3.1% in the June quarter, is dragging sentiment in the commercial sector too. When home owners pull back, small-business borrowers often follow.

What happens next depends on three dates: the Fed’s July 29 rates decision, the RBA’s August 5 board meeting, and whether Telstra, which faces a potential class action, can restore trust. For now, agents are telling clients to price realistically or face another winter on the market.

Alan Reidy, a commercial broker with offices on Myers Street, summed it up bluntly: “Buyers are scared. They are watching the news and they are not signing. That is the Bendigo market today.”