Four bidders - all owner-occupiers, rather than investors - made a play for the 300-square-metre building at 1-3 Ruby Street in Burwood East which was purchased by an accountant for $870,000.

Teska Carson agent Anthony Choi, who handled the auction, said the vendor was a private investor and all three under-bidders were also owner-occupiers with plans to renovate and refit the office space.

Prevailing low interest rates and a rush to acquire assets for self-managed superannuation funds (SMSF) are driving the new trend away from renting workspaces from private investors.

Small offices, shops and industrial premises are the most popular purchases for super funds. While businesses lease from their own funds experts warn they must ensure they are paying market rents or risk the ire of regulators if they get into trouble with mortgage repayments.

Philip La Greca, head of technical services at Multiport, the SMSF arm of AMP, said: "you have to treat it as if you are not going to be the tenant. If you pay above or below market rents or fall behind in rent then the super fund trustee becomes liable."

Teska Carson agent Matt Feld said "a lot of buyers are telling us it's more affordable to own their own building than rent. They can make improvements and put the rent into their funds rather than the landlord's."

Mr Feld said he spent six months trying to lease a 410-square-metre office building at 47 Stephenson Street in Cremorne, which later sold at auction for $1.615 million.

"Two people came looking through it. We put it on the market and it had four bidders. Inquiries for small suburban office spaces are stronger for sales than leasing," he said.

Other recent transactions with owner-occupiers include an office-showroom at 427 Church Street which fetched $2.9 million; an office building at 141 Cecil Street, South Melbourne, which sold for $1.85 million; a 55-square-metre shop at 1/457-459 Chapel Street was bought for $1.3 million; and an 800-square-metre showroom at 556 Swan Street sold for about $4 million.

The low interest rate environment is even providing encouragement for some corporates to dip their toes back into owning property.

Last week, car parts manufacturer ARB Corp bought back its factory-headquarters in Kilsyth for $19 million. ARB sold the 25,887-square-metre building to a fund manager, SAITeysMcMahon in 2005 for $16 million.

At the time, ARB said it was not a property investor and used the money to fund the business' expansion. Nine years later, it is planning to reconfigure the site and significantly reduce its operating costs.