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

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

Commercial investment property in Australia is tested on interest cover: the net rent after outgoings against the interest bill at the lender’s rate plus a buffer, currently 1% on the investor facility on our panel. The hurdle is 1.1 times where the property is $7.5 million or less and the loan is 60% of value or less, and 1.3 times above 60%, or on any property over $7.5 million, where the ceiling is 70%. On a $2,000,000 purchase with $130,000 of net rent and an illustrative 6.75% rate, the lease carries $1,200,000 at 60% with room to spare and about $1,290,000 at the 1.3 times hurdle; at 70% it fails. That is why the lease, not the purchase price, sets the LVR. Checked September 2026; subject to valuation and the lender’s servicing criteria.

Commercial investment loans in Australia can be approved on the property’s rent alone: on the investor facility on our panel, once the interest cover hurdle is met the lender does not assess the guarantors’ personal servicing at all. It is written for companies and corporate trustees whose income is mainly property, from $1 million, at up to 70% of valuation, for purchase, refinance or refurbishment, and not for construction or for borrowers whose main income is development. Directors still stand as guarantors and their net asset position is disclosed; what disappears is the personal serviceability test. Checked September 2026; subject to valuation and the lender’s servicing criteria.

Commercial investment loans in Australia are typically written for terms of up to five years, set against the tenancy profile and running out to the weighted average lease expiry, with interest-only available for up to five years and a choice of variable or fixed rates. The loan is then refinanced or rolled at the end of the term, which is where a strong lease and a clean payment history pay for themselves. Redraw is available, and equity can be released as the property grows in value, provided the money stays in property investment. Checked September 2026; subject to the lender’s assessment.

Commercial property investment loans in Australia carry an establishment fee, on the investor facility on our panel up to 0.5% of the limit, and on that facility no line fee, no ongoing fee and no valuation fee: the valuation is ordered through the lender’s panel and paid for by the lender. Registration costs and fixed-rate break costs apply as they do anywhere. Other lenders on the panel charge line fees or annual fees on similar facilities, which is why the cost stack is compared as a whole rather than on the headline rate. Checked September 2026; fees are the lender’s and can change.

Under most bank facilities, yes. Commercial loans carry an annual review, the lender can order a revaluation at any time, and a vacancy that breaks the interest cover or the loan-to-value ratio is a covenant breach: the lender can ask for equity, reprice, or set a period to refinance elsewhere. The protection is structural. A non-bank on our panel lends to 80% of value on a 30-year term with no annual review, debt service cover of 1.0× and up to eight years interest-only, which removes the review risk at the cost of a higher rate; on a bank facility the answer is a buffer in the cover, a re-letting allowance in the feasibility and a lease long enough that the loan term does not outrun it. Checked September 2026; subject to lender assessment.

Long enough that the lease outlasts the loan term. Weighted average lease expiry is the average time left on the leases in a building, weighted by rent, and lenders set the loan term against it, which is why a commercial investment loan is typically written for up to five years and then rolled. A single tenant with three years and a three-year option supports a term of about three years; a lease that expires inside the term is priced for the vacancy the lender expects to carry. Before you bid, read the lease for its remaining term, options, rent reviews and the tenant’s covenant, because those four lines set the loan more than the purchase price does. Checked September 2026; subject to lender assessment.

Almost never. Offset accounts are a residential product; commercial facilities offer redraw, which some lenders charge a line fee for, and equity release as the property grows in value provided the money stays in property investment. Where a business holds cash it wants working against the debt, the structure is a facility limit set with headroom and drawn down as needed, or a business-purpose facility secured on residential property, which can carry home-loan features where the security allows it. Ask about the whole cost stack, not the headline rate: a facility with no line fee, no ongoing fee and a lender-paid valuation can cost less over five years than one with a lower rate and three fees.

Yes, on your own servicing rather than the lease. A vacant building cannot be assessed on rent it is not earning, so the lender tests the purchase on the trading business that will occupy it (the owner-occupier pathway) or on your other income and assets, at a lower ratio than a leased asset, and the valuer values it with a letting-up allowance and a vacancy period built in. Specialised buildings with one use are hardest; standard office, industrial and retail stock with a demonstrable letting market is workable. If a tenant is signed before settlement, even on a lease that starts at settlement, the file is re-read on the lease and the ratio moves. Bring the leasing evidence with the contract.