Commercial Property Loans
Why Choose Centrum?
Strategic Approach
Most brokers focus on mortgages with the lowest rates and the fastest approvals.
Our approach combines a strategic approach with a long-term outlook – how will a loan support your objectives today, tomorrow, and in ten years?
Client Advocacy
You deserve the opportunity to build your tomorrow – regardless of past financial performance or serviceability.
Our lending specialists act as your advocates, working to source financing that supports your goals.
Lender Diversity
A small lending panel can restrict your choice of mortgages.
We proudly partner with over 40 bank and non-bank lenders, giving you access to a genuinely diverse range of products.
Ongoing Assessments
Your repayments don’t stop after settlement – and neither does our relationship.
We conduct semi-annual portfolio reviews, which can help you access reduced repayments and better features.
We’re recognised by Australia’s largest aggregator and largest bank
Find Your Lending Scenario
Access secured and unsecured financing with options like balloon and residual payments.
Commercial Property Mortgages
Buy commercial property as an owner-occupier, as an investor, or as a developer. Access funding through more than 30 lenders, including non-bank lenders with lower documentation requirements.
Loans for Complex or Large-Scale Facilities
Complex or large-scale commercial properties, such as shopping centres, hotels, or industrial facilities, may come with unique lending requirements. Find out how our lending specialists can support your next acquisition.
Loans for Agricultural Properties
Purchase property designed for agriculture, pasturage, or tree plantations. Primary-producing properties often benefit from specialised lenders – ones that understand the unique nature of agribusiness.
Residential and Commercial Development Financing
Fund land acquisition and project delivery. We’ll help you find the right lending partner – one that preserves your profitability and pipeline.
Commercial Loan Refinancing
Consolidate multiple loans into a single, lower-interest mortgage. Refinancing can reduce repayments and free up cash flow, which can improve your ability to borrow more.
Residual Stock Loan
Cover holding costs and loan repayments by securitising unsold development stock. A residual stock loan can give you the capital injection you need to make your project profitable.
EMPOWERING YOUR BUSINESS DREAMS WITH THE RIGHT LOANS
Loan Application Process
Schedule a 30-minute consultation with one of our lending specialists.
We’ll discuss your current business circumstances, strategic objectives, and financing options.
You submit your business’s financial information to your Centrum lending specialist.
Once we’ve analysed your submission and assessed your borrowing capacity, we’ll consult our lending partners.
We may schedule another meeting with you to discuss your borrowing options or request further information.
We present all viable loan options to you, modelling the financial outcomes of each one over different timeframes.
Once you understand which one is the most effective financing pathway for your business’s future, we’ll prepare a loan application.
You review and sign your finalised loan application.
We’ll then submit your application for approval to the lender you’ve chosen.
If your application is successful, your lender will disburse the funds.
More complex lending scenarios may have a slightly different approval process.
Following unconditional approval, you receive a loan offer document .This includes a contract that you need to sign. You can ask your Centrum specialist to explain the contract’s terms, or have your solicitor formally review it on your behalf.
Once your contract is signed, your lender advances the loan. You can purchase your property and take possession of the certificate of title.
After settlement, we walk you through the repayment process (including your repayment schedule) and answer any questions you have.
We’ll also conduct refinancing checks every six months across your loan’s life.
If the market or your business’s financial circumstances change, we’ll help you switch to a better-fit product as quickly as possible.
Build Without Pre-Sale Requirements
Pre-sales can eat into project profitability – delayed construction leads to higher costs, and pre-sale markets can be cooler than post-completion ones.
They also aren’t easy to achieve, especially in the current development climate.
If you think a loan with no or low pre-sale requirements could be preferable for your project, schedule a consultation with us.
We’ll negotiate with our lending partners on your behalf to secure personalised financing that considers your experience and project viability.
Loans for Motels, Hotels and Pubs
Accommodation properties are unique assets with two distinct components: the property itself and the going concern (the business operating on the property).
Your borrowing capacity will be determined, in part, by which combination of those components you want to acquire.
A freehold investment (buying the property) generally has an LVR of up to 80%, although, as a specialised security, it may still have a lower LVR than other classes of commercial property.
An owner-operator investment (buying the property and the business) has a similar LVR.
A leasehold investment (buying the business), by contrast, typically has lower LVR.
Our lending specialists can help you access specialised lenders who understand the true value of accommodation concerns – regardless of whether you invest as a lessor, an owner-operator, or a lessee.
Standard vs. Specialised Securities
When you take out a commercial property loan, the property you’ve acquired acts as security for the lender.
If you default, they can sell the property to recoup any losses.
Some classes of commercial property, though, are specialised – purpose-built for a specific type of business, which makes them hard to value and sell.
(Examples include accommodation, eateries, service stations, and aged care facilities.)
To offset that risk, many lenders offer lower LVRs on specialised commercial properties – or refuse to use them as security at all.
If you’re acquiring a non-standard property, talk to our team.
Our partners include non-bank lenders who understand the value of specialised property, which can help you access more favourable rates and loan terms.
Access High-DTI Commercial Loans
A high debt-to-income ratio shouldn’t impede property acquisition.
If you’re grappling with a near-capacity pipeline or high level of commercial debt, talk to us about financing solutions.
Sometimes, refinancing can help lower your repayments, giving you a higher liquidity buffer – which lenders often find appealing.
In other scenarios, specialised lenders may have a greater appetite for your loan, especially if you have a good history as a commercial borrower.
We act as your advocates, preparing and presenting a case for funding to lenders who align with your needs.
DTI, documentation, past performance – whatever your circumstances look like, we’ll help realise your dream.
Frequently Asked Questions
Senior lenders, such as banks, often require:
- Relevant development approvals, plans, and reports
- A feasibility study and relevant financials
- Details about the property and the project strategy
- Fixed-price construction contracts
- A certain percentage of arm’s length pre-sales
- Company fundamentals, such as assets, liabilities, and cash flow
- A list of key personnel
- Details of previous successful developments.
Keep in mind that, while traditional banks have strict criteria and a relatively low appetite for development financing, non-bank lenders often require much less documentation. The requirement for pre-sales, for example, can be reduced from the standard 30–50% to 20% or less, which helps preserve project profitability.
Generally, lenders require 20–30% of the property’s value as a deposit. Some lenders – particularly non-bank lenders – may have less stringent requirements.
It’s common to have a funding ‘gap’ between a development loan and available equity, particularly if you need to preserve available capital for your pipeline. In those scenarios, one of the easiest ways to realise a development is to seek a second mortgage, often in the form of mezzanine financing.
A mezzanine loan sits under a standard development loan (which is classed as senior debt) in your capital stack. Senior debt is repaid first, then junior or subordinated debt, then mezzanine debt. Unlike senior debt, which is secured by collateral, mezzanine debt will generally convert into equity in your company or development if the loan conditions are not met. It also generally has a higher interest rate to offset the lender’s increased risk.
Vendor finance is a second way to bridge the gap between senior debt and available capital. It involves the current owner of the land you’re acquiring lending you money, often under a joint venture agreement. While vendor finance normally has higher interest rates and requires a willing partner, it can be a good way to preserve your capital for other projects.
Finally, you can also increase your capital through ‘soft equity’ – that is, the difference between a property’s purchase price and the valuation of your senior lender. Finding an undervalued property is often difficult, especially for larger projects, but doing so can increase your equity without additional outlay.
While we don’t typically broker mezzanine loans or vendor finance arrangements, we can help you find an appropriate senior lender, which can reduce or eliminate your funding gap. If you still need additional outside capital, we’ll refer you to non-bank lenders that specialise in junior development financing.
Unlike residential property, where ‘owner-occupied’ refers to the homeowner living in the home, an owner-occupied commercial loan refers to the borrowing entity – such as a company – conducting commercial operations from that property.
For example, Business A is a supermarket that currently rents its premises. When it takes out a commercial loan to buy its premises, it becomes an ‘owner-occupier’ of the property.
An investment commercial loan means that the borrower is not using the property for commercial operations. Investment commercial loans often have higher interest rates, stricter criteria, and lower LVRs than owner-occupied loans.
A general security agreement (GSA) is an agreement between a borrower and a lender. It grants the lender an interest in the borrower’s ‘personal property’, which refers to all assets other than land or certain rights, entitlements and authorities. This includes intangible assets like intellectual property or licences, and can apply to assets acquired after the agreement has been signed. If a borrower defaults on their commercial property mortgage under a GSA, the lender can seize some or all of the securitised assets.
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