Office Property Loans

Bank appetite for office property has shifted since 2020. Hybrid working patterns have led some banks to reduce exposure to office assets, particularly secondary-grade office, suburban office, and buildings with shorter-dated leases, regardless of the quality of the specific asset. That has created a gap between what the market is willing to sell and what banks are willing to finance. Private lending fills that gap by assessing each office property on its individual merits rather than applying sector-level policy.

Who This Is For

• •Pty Ltd companies purchasing office premises for their own professional or business operations
• •Discretionary and unit family trusts acquiring office property for investment yield
• •SMSFs purchasing office suites as business real property or investment under LRBA
• •Professional services firms, medical practices, financial services businesses, and technology companies purchasing their own premises
• •Investors acquiring office assets where banks have stepped back from the asset class
• •Not available to natural persons borrowing in their personal name
• •Not available for residential property or any NCCP-regulated consumer lending

How We Assess Office Property

Our assessment starts with the security property: its location, the building quality, the strata plan or freehold title, and the value our in-house valuers determine. Lease profile informs risk but does not replace an asset-first view. A quality office in a strong suburban precinct with near-term lease expiry is not the same risk as a weak building in a secondary location, and we treat them accordingly.

Owner-occupier office purchases are assessed on the borrower entity's operational plans for the space and the exit strategy, typically refinance to a long-term commercial lender once the bank's process runs its course. Investment office purchases are assessed on the asset quality and the borrower's capacity to hold and exit within the loan term.

Submit your scenario with the property details, borrower entity type, and proposed LVR. Same-day indicative response. Letter of offer within 24 hours of agreed terms. Settlement from 24 to 72 hours for clean deals.

Three Office Property Scenarios We Have Recently Helped

A professional services firm operating as a Pty Ltd wanted to purchase the strata office suite it had leased in a suburban Sydney commercial precinct for six years. Settlement in 35 days. The company's bank declined, citing reduced appetite for owner-occupier strata office in that suburb. We assessed on the asset quality and the company's operational position. Loan: $1.1 million, first mortgage, 64% LVR, 9-month term.

A family trust with an existing commercial portfolio identified a half-floor office suite in a metropolitan office building with two tenants, both on 3-year leases. The bank's credit team flagged office sector exposure limits and declined. We assessed on the building quality, location, and lease terms. Loan: $2.2 million, first mortgage, 62% LVR.

An SMSF trustee company acquired a medical consulting suite in a purpose-built medical office building, qualifying business real property for the member's medical practice. The fund's usual lender had paused SMSF LRBA applications during a credit review. We stepped in with a 12-month bridging facility under the LRBA structure. Loan: $890,000, settled within 72 hours of initial enquiry.

Speed and Process Advantage

We hold direct credit authority and use in-house valuers whose assessment runs concurrently with underwriting. No external committee. For office property deals where a bank has declined or cannot move in time, we provide an indicative position the same day and can settle within 24 to 72 hours for clean deals. That timeline is what allows borrowers to act on opportunities that their bank cannot accommodate.

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