Offices and shops for sale in Bizerte

Buying commercial walls in the governorate of Bizerte often means buying a ground floor beneath a home. Office blocks are rare, shopping arcades few, and most shops occupy the bottom of a house or a small building. What is for sale, then, are street shops, corner units, depots on the outskirts, and sometimes a package combining the business and the home above it.

Buyers are shopkeepers tired of paying rent, investors seeking a steady income, and emigrants who want a productive asset in their home town. Supply varies from week to week and is fuller in Bizerte town than in the rest of the governorate. On Houni, you deal directly with the seller.

Bizerte: paying for the location

In town, the price of a unit is read on the pavement. In the centre of Bizerte Nord, a shop on a busy street sells dear and lets easily, which makes it a sought-after investment. Around the old port and on the Corniche, turnover depends on the summer, and so does the price. In the housing estates and in Zarzouna, neighbourhood units are more affordable and let to local businesses: grocers, bakers, hairdressers. The premises for sale in Bizerte Nord show the scale of these gaps.

An investor buyer can reason simply: what rent would the unit fetch today, and in how many years does that rent pay back the asking price? A unit in the centre pays for itself more slowly but resells without difficulty; a neighbourhood unit yields more in proportion, with a greater risk of standing empty.

Menzel Djemil and the south bank: depots, workshops, passing trade

Between Bizerte and Menzel Bourguiba, the Menzel Djemil industrial zones keep a whole network of subcontractors, hauliers and service businesses going. People buy depots and warehouses on the outskirts, on plots big enough for a van, and shops on the roads used every day by commuters. The commercial premises for sale in Menzel Djemil show this mix. For a depot, the width of the road, the power supply and the land's zoning in the development plan count for more than the frontage.

Menzel Bourguiba and Mateur have a more traditional market of town-centre shops, often old, sold by heirs. Prices stay below those of Bizerte, with a stable local clientele. In Mateur, businesses geared to farming, equipment, animal feed or seed, keep a value tied to the surrounding plain, and change hands between people in the trade more often than through listings.

Ras Djebel and the coast: seasonal trade

On the north-east coast, in Ras Djebel and Rafraf, trade has two faces: town-centre shops serving residents all year round, and units near the beaches that make most of their turnover in summer. A unit near Rafraf beach can look expensive for a town of that size; it really is only if the planned business has to live off three months. The premises for sale in Ras Djebel let you compare the two profiles. El Alia and Ghar El Meleh remain local markets, with few sales.

Vacant walls, let walls, business goodwill

Three situations arise, and they are not negotiated the same way. Vacant walls, first, which you occupy or let as you wish. Let walls, next: ask for the commercial lease, its end date and the current rent, because a sitting tenant is protected and does not leave on simple request. The business goodwill, finally, which covers the clientele and the right to the lease, not the walls.

For a unit beneath a home, check that the ground floor has its own title or that a division has been made, and that the building permit provides for commercial use. Joint ownership among heirs is common on older shops: all of them must sign. To decide between buying and renting, the premises for rent in the governorate of Bizerte give a basis for estimating the market rent.