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Home › Commercial property loans

Commercial property loans

Commercial property loans: up to 100% borrowing, straightforward or complex.

Owner-occupier or investment, one entity or several, direct or through your trust or your SMSF. Published commercial lending runs at 65 to 80% LVR (the share of the value a lender will fund); a structured file reaches higher, and with the right structure and security the purchase price in full. This page sets out what decides the number, what it costs to get in, and which lender route fits the deal.

Up to 100% borrowing on a commercial property purchase.

Subject to valuation, lender criteria, security position and eligibility. On 8 out of 10 Prevail transactions, clients settle at 95% or above.

“The mechanic who bought his workshop. For $200,000 less.”Client story, published with Simarpreet’s permission · Read the story →
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30 minutes with Priyank, at no cost. We review your position and discuss how we will approach funding your deal. No lender sees anything until you say so.

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Who this is for

Business owners buying the premises they trade from, and investors buying offices, warehouses, retail, medical and mixed-use property, from a clean single-entity purchase to a multi-entity structure, $400,000 to $10 million+.

The numbers

  • Up to 100% of the purchase price with the right structure and security, deal and policy dependent
  • Standard commercial lending 65–80% LVR, a 20–35% deposit, as published July 2026
  • Owner-occupier pricing indicatively from around 6% p.a. as at July 2026; investment exposure prices above it

Subject to valuation, lender criteria, security position and eligibility. Rate context is indicative market data, reviewed quarterly, not an offer or a quote.

What happens next

30 minutes with Priyank, at no cost. We review your position and discuss how we will approach funding your deal. No lender sees anything until you say so. Accept our quote, and your Action Plan follows in one business day.

Start your Action Plan →

Two ways to buy

The operator and the investor are assessed differently. The structure work is the same.

Owner-occupier: your business is the tenant

The lender reads your trading history as well as the asset, treats the exposure more favourably than an investment, and prices from around 6% p.a. as published in July 2026. The rent you pay a landlord becomes the repayment on your own premises, and the deposit is a structuring outcome rather than a fixed toll: with the business’s financials supporting the debt and property security in the package, the funded share rises well past the published band.

Buying your business premises →

Investment: someone else is the tenant

Offices, warehouses, retail, medical suites and mixed-use property held for income are arranged across the same bank, non-bank and private panel. The lender reads the lease as closely as it reads you: its term and options, the tenant’s covenant, the rent reviews, the vacancy risk if that tenant leaves, and whether the net rent covers the interest with a margin. Investment exposure prices above owner-occupier and lends to a lower published band, which is why the structure decides the outcome here too.

Deposit, LVR and rates, with the workings →

A third path sits between them: the premises bought inside your self-managed super fund and leased back to your business at market rent, with the loan secured on the property alone. The SMSF pathway →

What decides the number

Six things set the LVR before any lender is chosen.

The security package

The property itself sets the published band. What stands behind the purchase sets how far past the band the file can go: for an owner-occupier, the trading business itself, which is how a strong operator reaches 100% with no additional property; for anyone else, other property or a guarantor entity with assets behind it. Up to 100% of the purchase price is a structure question before it is a lender question.

The asset type

Standard office, industrial and retail stock sits at the top of the band. Specialised assets with one use and few alternative tenants, a petrol station, a cold store, a licensed venue, sit lower with a shorter list of lenders. The same purchase price can carry two very different deposits.

Serviceability

For an owner-occupier, the trading financials and the add-backs an assessor will actually allow. For an investor, the net rent after outgoings against the interest, plus your own position. One year of financials instead of two, where the lender’s own policy allows it.

The entity

Personal name, company, trust or SMSF. Each changes who the lender assesses, what it can secure, and what the purchase does to your capacity three purchases from now. Decided with your accountant before contracts, not repaired after settlement.

The valuation

The lender lends against its valuer’s number, not the contract price. A short valuation is the most common way a clean file loses its LVR at the last step; we read the valuation basis before lodgement and, where it comes back light, arrange a separate valuation and put the case to the lender.

The file itself

Built to the lender’s own credit policy, in the language its assessor reads, with the three questions the committee was going to ask already answered. On a clean file that is a fast yes at the right lender. On a hard one it is how a policy limit becomes a question rather than a verdict.

Structure on a $1,000,000 commercial propertyDeposit required
Standard commercial, 65% LVR$350,000
Standard commercial, 80% LVR$200,000
Owner-occupier, structured at 95%$50,000
Structured at 100%$0 deposit; entry costs still apply

Deposit only. Excludes stamp duty (varies by state; nil on qualifying commercial property in South Australia), legal, valuation, application and due diligence costs. The structured figures assume an established trading business or acceptable additional security. Subject to valuation, lender criteria, security position and eligibility.

Straightforward or complex

A clean file is welcome. A hard one is what the method is for.

The straightforward file

One entity, the deposit in hand, two years of clean financials or a lease with years to run. The work is which lender, which structure, and how the case is put: the right lender at the first attempt, a structure that keeps your next purchase open, the whole cost stack negotiated rather than the headline rate, and settlement in three to four weeks once documents are complete.

The complex file

The premises held through your SMSF, a unit trust with unrelated partners, a freehold bought together with the business that trades from it, a portfolio that has to be re-cut to make room, or an asset most credit desks have never assessed. The same reader, the same process, the same fee model, and a plan that settles.

Every file is read by someone who has sat in four chairs: a bank lending manager and commercial credit assessor who approved other people’s files, a business owner who bought, rebuilt and sold a business, a developer with ten-plus completed projects, and the broker. Read his story →

The three routes

Bank, non-bank or private credit. The deal picks the route.

RouteTypical LVRSpeed to approvalPricingSuited to
Major and regional banks65–80%, higher with additional securityTypically several weeksLowest; owner-occupier from ~6% p.a. (Jul 2026)A clean file with time to run a full process
Non-bank lendersUp to ~80%, asset-dependentDays to weeksAbove bankNear-bank deals that miss one policy test: servicing story, property type or timing
Private and structured creditDeal-by-deal, security-drivenCan move in daysPriced for speed and flexibility, above non-bankDeadline-driven purchases, short-term bridges and complex structures

Typical characteristics as at August 2026, general in nature; every lender applies its own criteria to every deal.

A clean file usually belongs at a major bank at the sharpest pricing. Non-bank and private pathways earn their place when settlement is tight, when the security or the structure sits outside standard bank policy, or when speed is worth paying for. We say which before you commit. Subject to lender criteria and security position.

What it costs to get in

The number that catches people out is never the deposit.

On the purchase

  • Deposit, or the security that replaces it
  • Stamp duty: varies by state; South Australia charges none on qualifying commercial property (abolished 1 July 2018)
  • Lender application and establishment fees
  • Valuation, paid by you, instructed by the lender
  • Legal: contract review, leases, entity documents
  • GST treatment, going concern or otherwise, settled with your accountant before contracts

On the engagement

Everything up to and including the Action Plan meeting is at no cost. Our consulting fee is quoted in writing at step four of six, fixed once quoted, and refunded in full if we do not secure the offer set out in your Action Plan. Lender commission is disclosed in writing. The whole stack, with worked examples, is on What it costs.

Who it’s for

This is not for everyone. Deliberately.

We’re a fit if

  • Purchases from $400,000 to $10 million+, owner-occupier or investment
  • Straightforward or complex: a clean single-entity purchase is as much a fit as a multi-entity structure
  • Office, industrial, warehousing, retail, healthcare and consulting suites, mixed-use
  • Buyers who want the asset inside a trust or an SMSF
  • Buyers with no debt at all. A clean credit story is an advantage, not a gap
  • Buyers who will involve their accountant on the entity before contracts

We’re not, and we’ll tell you in the first call

  • Purchases under $400,000
  • Specialised assets with no alternative use and no tenant
  • Businesses in arrears, default or distress
  • Anyone shopping purely on advertised interest rate

Turning away the wrong deal is how we stay fast on the right ones.

Straight answers

Fair questions.

Can I borrow 100% for a commercial property purchase?

With the right structure and security, yes. Published commercial lending stops at 65 to 80% of the property’s value; the rest is a question of what stands behind the purchase, an established trading business for an owner-occupier, other property or a guarantor entity with assets behind it for anyone else, and of how the file is built. On 8 out of 10 Prevail Finance transactions, clients settle at 95% or above; up to 100% is deal and policy dependent and subject to valuation, lender criteria, security position and eligibility. Entry costs, stamp duty, valuation and legal fees still apply.

Is the deposit different for an investment purchase and an owner-occupier purchase?

Yes. Published guidance as at July 2026 puts standard commercial lending at 65 to 80% LVR, a 20 to 35% deposit, and an investment purchase is assessed on the lease and sits towards the lower end of that band. An owner-occupier is assessed on the trading business as well as the asset and can structure materially higher: on 8 out of 10 Prevail Finance transactions, clients settle at 95% or above, and with the right structure and security the deposit falls to nil. The deposit, LVR and rates guide shows the workings on a $1,000,000 purchase.

What is a commercial property loan, and how is it different from a home loan?

A loan secured on non-residential property: an office, warehouse, shop, medical suite or mixed-use building, occupied by your own business or leased to a tenant. It differs from a home loan in four ways. The published lending band is lower, 65 to 80% of value against 80 to 95% on a home. The lender assesses the trading business or the lease rather than a payslip. Pricing sits above residential, owner-occupier from around 6% p.a. as published in July 2026, investment above that. And because it is business or investment lending on commercial property, it sits outside the consumer protections of the NCCP Act, which is one reason the file is read, and should be built, differently. Rates are indicative market context, not an offer; the deposit, LVR and rates guide carries the current figures with sources.

How is an investment commercial property loan assessed?

On the lease first: its remaining term and options, the tenant’s strength, the rent reviews, and what the building would let for if that tenant left. Then on whether the net rent after outgoings covers the interest with a margin, and on your own position behind the asset. Investment lending sits at a lower published band than owner-occupier and prices above it, so the structure and the lease do most of the work.

Do I need a broker for a straightforward commercial property loan?

You can walk into your own bank, and it will answer inside its own policy with one view of your security. A broker who reads credit policy from the inside places the same clean file with the lender whose policy fits it, in the entity that keeps your next purchase open, at a price negotiated across the whole cost stack rather than the headline rate. On a clean file that is the difference between a fast yes and three weeks of questions; it is also usually the difference between 80% and something better. The process is the same as for a complex file, and shorter.

Can my SMSF buy commercial property as an investment, not only my own premises?

Yes. Under a limited recourse borrowing arrangement the fund can buy an office, warehouse or shop leased to an unrelated tenant as readily as the premises your business trades from; the related-party rules, buying from or leasing to yourself or your business, apply only to business real property, which is why the owner-occupier version gets the attention. The loan is secured on the property alone, up to 80% LVR against business real property, lower on specialised assets, subject to fund liquidity, lender criteria and eligibility. Whether an SMSF strategy suits you is a question for your accountant and licensed adviser; the SMSF commercial property page sets out the lending.

Which commercial property types are hardest to finance?

Specialised assets with one use and few alternative tenants: petrol stations, cold stores, licensed venues, purpose-built childcare or aged care. Lenders lend to a lower band on them, fewer lenders lend at all, and the valuation basis matters more. Standard office, industrial and retail stock sits at the top of the published band with the widest choice of lenders.

How long does a commercial property loan take to settle?

A straightforward purchase typically reaches settlement in three to four weeks once documents are complete; the slowest step is almost always assembling the paperwork and the valuation, not the lender. SMSF purchases and multi-entity structures run longer because the entity documents and the fund’s liquidity test come first. You are told which category your file sits in at the Action Plan meeting.

What is the minimum commercial property loan you arrange?

We work on transactions from $400,000 to $10 million+. Below $400,000 the structuring work rarely earns its fee and a commission-only broker or your own bank will usually get you there faster, and we will tell you if that is your situation.

Can I buy commercial property through a company or a family trust?

Yes, and most purchases above $1 million are. The lender assesses the entity and the people behind it together: the company or the trustee borrows, the directors or the beneficiaries stand as guarantors, and the trust deed is read for the power to borrow and to give security before the file is lodged. The entity also changes the stamp duty and land tax treatment in some states and what the purchase does to your borrowing capacity three purchases from now, which is why it is decided with your accountant before contracts, not repaired after settlement. A family trust file read under the wrong policy rule is the subject of one of our client stories.

Next step

Price the structure before you price the property.

Seven minutes on the phone to start: the asset, your position, what sits behind you, and whether a 95%-plus structure is realistic. Thirty minutes with Priyank at no cost. Nothing lodged, and no lender sees your name until you say so.

New to how we run a file? The six steps, start to settlement →

Start your Action Plan →

30 minutes with Priyank, at no cost. We review your position and discuss how we will approach funding your deal. No lender sees anything until you say so.

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