Office Building Loans

Commercial office loans finance the full range of office property: whole CBD and A-grade office towers, suburban offices, office parks, individual strata-titled suites, and professional rooms. I arrange finance across all of these, and each one carries different lender appetite.

In practice, well-leased prime and A-grade offices sit at the top of the LVR ladder with the full lender pool competing. Suburban offices and strata suites are still strongly supported, with the assessment leaning more on location, parking and the strength of the tenant. For consulting and medical suites specifically, specialist healthcare lenders often offer sharper terms again.

The commercial property loans hub covers the full category, from office through to industrial and retail.

Yes, but a vacant or short-leased office changes how the loan is structured, because there is less in-place income for the lender to underwrite against. The three approaches I see most often:

• An owner-occupier business case, where you move your own business into the office and serviceability comes from your trading position.
• A leasing strategy with credible tenant interest documented, so the lender can see a path to income.
• A stronger borrower position, a larger deposit and lower LVR, to offset the lack of a sitting tenant.

Big 4 and major banks have limited appetite for a vacant office without one of those structures. Non-bank lenders and private capital are more flexible, and price for the additional risk. If you are weighing a vacant purchase, book a free consultation and we can talk through the deal.

Yes, you can buy an office through a self-managed super fund, commonly to lease it back to your own business at market rent. An office is business real property, which is the category the ATO allows an SMSF to acquire and lease to a related party, provided the arrangement is at arm's length.

The office deal itself looks a little different inside super. The LVR is more conservative, typically around 65%, and the loan is held under a limited recourse borrowing arrangement. Because the compliance rules are specific, our SMSF commercial property loans page covers the full pathway, and the ATO ruling SMSFR 2009/1 sets out the business real property definition in detail.

Office LVRs typically sit between 60% and 80%, depending on who is buying and how the office is leased. Within that range, the position varies by buyer type:

• Owner-occupier, prime or A-grade office: up to 80%
• Owner-occupier, first-time buyer: up to 75%
• Investor, long lease to a quality tenant: up to 75%
• Investor, mid-tier or short-lease tenant: around 65% to 70%
• Strata office suite: around 70%
• SMSF purchase: around 65%

Owner-occupiers consistently access a higher LVR than investors on an equivalent office, because the lender is leaning on your business rather than a third-party tenant. The factors that move LVR most are tenant covenant and WALE for investors, and serviceability for owner-occupiers. Our commercial property loan interest rates page covers current pricing across categories.

The difference comes down to what the lender assesses. As an owner-occupier, the loan leans on your business's trading position and serviceability, and you typically access the sharpest LVRs and pricing because the office is occupied by a business the lender can assess directly.

As an investor, the loan leans on the tenant covenant, the lease and the WALE. A long lease to a strong tenant can secure terms close to owner-occupier levels, while a short lease or weaker covenant sits a step below. If you are deciding whether to buy your premises or keep leasing, our buy vs rent calculator compares the long-term economics.

Yes. Big 4 and major banks typically cap interest-only at three years, non-bank lenders often extend to five years, and private capital can sometimes structure full-term interest-only. Buyers usually choose interest-only to protect cashflow in the early ownership period, particularly through a fit-out or a gap between settlement and a tenant moving in. The trade-off is a higher overall interest cost across the life of the loan.

On an investment office, the lease profile is the single biggest lever on your loan, often moving the LVR more than your balance sheet does. Lenders weigh the WALE, the weighted average lease expiry, against the tenant covenant: a long lease to a government or blue-chip tenant unlocks the best terms, while a short remaining term or an early break clause can quietly cut what they will advance. This is why I get the lease reviewed before a client makes an offer, not after.

Yes, both feed directly into the valuation and the lender's appetite. The factors that move an office most are:

• Building grade: prime and A-grade offices in established locations attract the sharpest terms.
• Parking ratio: more than four spaces per 100 sqm of net lettable area presents well, as tenants increasingly prioritise staff parking.
• Floorplate and fit-out: efficient, flexible floor space re-lets more easily, while a heavily specialised fit-out can narrow the buyer pool.

Specialised offices are sometimes assessed differently again. A fitted consulting or medical suite, for instance, has its own specialist lender pool. For wider context on how office markets are moving across the capital cities, our commercial property market insights cover the trends.

Office finance timeframes vary by lender: Big 4 and major banks usually take 6 to 10 weeks, non-bank lenders 4 to 6 weeks, and private capital 1 to 3 weeks. The biggest accelerators are clean documentation, a clear lease and tenancy schedule ready at submission, and matching the deal to a lender I already know is writing your type of office.

The most common delays come from lease and WALE questions surfacing late, body corporate documentation gaps on strata suites, and valuation lead times. If you are refinancing an office you already own rather than buying, that runs on its own timeline. To get moving, book a free consultation and we can map the likely path for your deal.