Private Mortgage Lender in Canberra

Most Canberra purchases that come to us share one problem: the settlement date will not wait for a bank. Secured Lending writes first and second mortgages on property across the ACT for buyers who need certainty against a deadline, lending our own capital from $250,000 to $10 million. We fund commercial acquisitions, investment property settlements, and equity releases that hinge on timing, strictly for business and investment purposes and never for an owner-occupied home. A clean file can be funded within 24 hours.

Buying commercial and investment property in Canberra

The bulk of what we fund in the capital is a purchase: a professional suite in Civic or Barton leased to government or its contractors, a light-industrial unit at Fyshwick or Mitchell, an office held as an investment, or a development site. Because the money is ours and our valuers price the asset in-house, we can settle a commercial buy in a day or two rather than waiting on an outside committee. Investors here typically buy through a trust, a company, or an SMSF, and we register the mortgage against property held in any of those structures. You can read more on our commercial property and investment property pages.

Where banks stall and a private mortgage does not

A bank measures a purchase against a serviceability model, and that model reads a contractor between engagements, a consultancy with milestone-based billing, or an investor buying through a trust as a risk rather than a customer. The deal stalls while the clock on settlement keeps running. We look at it from the other end: the property going up as security and a believable plan to repay decide whether we lend. That is why a buyer a bank cannot model is often a quick yes for us.

• •First and second mortgages from $250,000 to $10 million, clean files funded within 24 hours
• •Weighed on the security and a credible exit, not a serviceability score
• •Comfortable with trust, company, and SMSF borrowers across the ACT
• •Approved in-house, with no external committee between your offer and settlement
• •Rates from 9.7% p.a. on terms of 1 to 24 months
• •Business and investment purchases only, never a personal home loan

Holding the primary charge: first mortgages

When the property is unencumbered or we refinance the existing loan out, we register the first mortgage and sit in the primary security position. That earns our sharpest pricing, from 9.7% p.a. with an LVR up to 75% on a strong asset, over a term of one to twenty-four months. Canberra buyers lean on a first mortgage to settle an acquisition against a firm date, to refinance a facility that has stopped suiting the business, or to draw working capital against a building they already own outright.

Drawing equity behind the bank: second mortgages

A second mortgage ranks behind the bank loan you already carry, so you can release the equity sitting in a Canberra property without refinancing or paying out that first facility. Total borrowing across the two positions is generally kept inside 75% of value. It is the right tool when the equity is plainly there and the timing is tight: covering a deposit on the next purchase, bridging between a buy and a sale, or freeing cash while a contract payment is still working its way through.

Security we register a mortgage against

The loan serves the business or the investment; the property is what backs it. Almost all ACT land is held on a 99-year Crown lease rather than freehold, so before we register we confirm the unexpired term and the permitted use, then assess the value as we would any title. Our own valuers set the figure against current Canberra evidence.

• •Houses, units, and investment dwellings across the inner suburbs and the town centres
• •Offices, retail, and strata suites through Civic, Barton, and the district centres
• •Light-industrial and warehouse holdings at Fyshwick, Mitchell, and Hume
• •Vacant land and development sites, DA approved or not
• •A property that still carries a bank facility, where we register behind it
• •Crown lease and freehold title alike, held in a company, trust, or SMSF

What carries the decision

Four things decide whether a Canberra mortgage works, and the exit outweighs the rest by a distance. A loan is only as sound as the way out of it, so we want that mapped first, in plain terms, before we go any further.

• •The exit: a dated, evidenced route to repay, by sale, refinance, or incoming funds. This carries the most weight
• •The security and the loan against it: current value and an LVR usually up to 70%
• •The purpose: a genuine business or investment reason, such as a purchase, refinance, or equity release
• •Title and ranking: a sound Crown lease or freehold, and whether we take first or second position

“In Canberra the deals that come to us usually turn on a settlement date the bank cannot hit, often a buyer purchasing through a trust or an SMSF. Crown lease title is routine for us, not a hurdle. Bring us a sound property and a clear way out, and you will have a decision the same day.”

Gino Tabila

Associate Director

The areas we fund across the ACT and the border

We register first and second mortgages right across the Canberra metro area: Civic and Barton at the centre, the light-industrial precincts of Fyshwick and Mitchell, and the town centres of Gungahlin, Belconnen, and Woden. We also lend over the border into Queanbeyan and the surrounding New South Wales region. If the property you are buying or borrowing against sits in Canberra or the ACT, we can usually move on it quickly.