Commercial Property Finance

Commercial property LVRs typically range from 60% to 80% depending on the lender and asset type. Owner-occupied premises can reach 80% LVR with major banks. Investment property with strong tenants typically funds at 70-75%. Specialist commercial (childcare, medical, hospitality) sits at 60-70%, and vacant commercial typically caps at 50-65%.

Full-doc uses the borrower's business financials and personal income to demonstrate serviceability. Lease-doc uses only the rental income from the property — typically requiring strong tenant covenant and lease terms remaining. Lease-doc loans are useful for SMSF acquisitions or investors who do not want to disclose full financials, but generally carry higher pricing than full-doc.

Yes. Commercial property is one of the few assets a self-managed super fund can acquire and lease back to a related party — your operating business. SMSF commercial loans are LRBA facilities, typically capped at 60-70% LVR with stricter serviceability rules. The property must qualify as business real property under the SIS Act. We coordinate with your accountant or SMSF specialist on structure.

Commercial property loans typically run 15-25 years with rate reviews every 3-5 years. This contrasts with residential mortgages, which run 25-30 years on a single rate cycle. Some lenders offer interest-only periods of three to five years for investment property.

Commercial property is funded across major banks (CBA, NAB, ANZ, Westpac), second-tier banks (Bank of Queensland, Bendigo, Suncorp), specialist commercial lenders (Thinktank, La Trobe, RedZed, Liberty), and private credit funds. Each tier has different appetite, pricing, and policy. Getting the deal in front of the right lender is the broker's core value-add — not running it through a generic comparison.

Beyond the rate, commercial property finance typically involves establishment fees (0.25%-1.5% of the facility), valuation fees ($800 to $5,000-plus for complex assets), legal and lender mortgage documentation fees, and ongoing line fees on revolving facilities. We model the all-in cost upfront so lender comparison is honest.

The most common refinancing triggers are securing a better rate, releasing equity for further investment, restructuring serviceability, exiting a fixed-rate expiry, or moving off private credit once the deal is bankable. We recommend reviewing commercial debt six to twelve months before a rate review period — gives time to test the market and structure the move properly.