Audiology clinics property finance

Ardent Capital Group brings the same method to every client: execution and strategy, clear advice for smart lending, and long-term growth. That means the right lender, structure and timing, straight advice so you borrow with confidence, and today's deal built toward where you want to be tomorrow. We are specialists in helping business owners secure finance to purchase their own property, and we understand the complex structures that often sit around it, including multiple trusts, holding companies and self-managed super funds. This is a commercial mortgage shaped around your audiology clinic, not a template built for any healthcare tenant. Buying the rooms your clinic works from is a long-term commitment, so we take it to the lenders who view clinicians as owner-occupiers favourably, set up to fit how the practice actually operates. We stay alongside you well beyond settlement, as both the clinic and the property grow in value. Every figure is subject to serviceability, lender appetite and approval.

Going direct to one lender means one credit policy and one answer. An audiology clinic is a retail-clinical asset, part shopfront and dispensary, part sound-treated testing space, and not every lender values it the same way. Some read the booth and dispensary fit-out as specialised inclusions and lend conservatively, while others focus on the location and trading income. We know which lenders are comfortable with hearing clinics and how to present the premises so you get the right answer, rather than collecting declines.

As an owner-occupier audiologist you can generally borrow up to 65% to 70%, reflecting the retail-clinical valuation lenders apply to a hearing clinic. Investment purchases leased to another operator usually sit closer to 60% to 65%. Where a lender recognises your profession it can fund up to 100% without your home as security. Talk to us for your number.

The soundproofed audiometric booth is the feature that sets an audiology clinic apart, and it is a real build cost, often tens of thousands of dollars for a treated room or a prefabricated booth. Valuers treat it as a specialised, largely non-transferable inclusion, so they tend to value the premises on a retail-clinical basis and discount the fixed booth below its build cost. That can step the lending value down compared with the money you spend. We structure the finance so the property loan sits against the premises value, and the booth build and audiometry equipment can be funded separately, keeping your borrowing efficient.

Income from the Hearing Services Program, the government voucher scheme, is treated favourably because it is recurring and government-backed, which lenders read as stable trading income. Alongside it, most clinics also earn from aged-care contracts, private clients and health-fund rebates, and a lender will look at the full mix across two to three years of financials. The main point to plan for is claim timing, since voucher payments can lag the service, so we factor that cash-flow gap into both the servicing assessment and any working-capital facility. Presented clearly, a strong voucher and aged-care base strengthens the application.

For a straightforward owner-occupier purchase, most clients receive indicative terms within 48 hours of our first conversation, with formal approval usually following in one to two weeks. From there, a commercial property settlement typically runs three to six weeks with a major bank, or two to four weeks with a non-bank lender. Strata tenancies, SMSF structures and clinics inside a larger medical centre can add time because there are more moving parts to confirm. We give you a realistic timeline upfront so your purchase schedule holds.

For a full-doc application, most lenders want two to three years of clinic financial statements and tax returns, personal tax returns for each guarantor, and the contract of sale or lease. If you buy through a company or trust, the deed or constitution and its financials are needed too. Many audiologists are self-employed or bill through a service entity and do not fit a standard full-doc assessment, so non-bank lenders offer alt-doc and low-doc options evidenced by an accountant's declaration, BAS or bank statements. These carry slightly higher rates but suit borrowers whose paperwork understates income. We work through your income situation upfront and identify whether a full-doc, alt-doc or low-doc approach is the right fit for you.

Owner-occupier finance applies when your own clinic trades from the premises, and lenders assess the clinic income and trading history alongside the property, lending up to 65% to 70%. Investment finance applies when you buy a hearing clinic to lease to another operator, so the focus shifts to the rental income, lease term and tenant quality. Investment LVRs are usually lower, around 60% to 65%, and a short lease or vacancy can be harder to fund. If you occupy part and lease the rest, we present each portion on its own basis.

Yes, it is possible, and we arrange these. It is also one of the more intricate purchases in commercial finance, and the detail is what decides whether it works. The fund borrows under a limited recourse borrowing arrangement, so the clinic sits in a separate holding trust and the lender can only come after that one property. From 10 August 2026 a new arrangement can only be used for business real property: a property trading wholly as a business generally qualifies, a property with a residence attached generally does not. Your practice leases the clinic back from the fund, in writing, at market rent supported by an independent appraisal, and the rent has to actually be paid. SMSF lending caps well below a standard purchase, so the fund provides its own deposit and the full-price funding available outside super does not apply here. Cross-collateralisation is not available inside super either. Lenders cap SMSF lending below a standard purchase, generally between 65% and 75%, and want cash left in the fund after settlement. We know this sounds complicated. It is, and that is exactly why we do it every day. Reach out to our team and we will guide you through the entire process. We structure the finance, tell you which lenders will take an audiology clinic as SMSF security and on what terms, and bring in the SMSF specialists and licensed advisers who set the fund side up. You will not be working it out on your own. Get that right and it is a solid, compliant structure.

In many cases, yes. The property loan covers the premises, and the specialised parts, the sound-treated booth, audiometry and real-ear measurement equipment, the hearing-aid dispensary and retail display, are often best funded on separate equipment or fit-out finance. That keeps depreciating assets off the property security and can be more tax-effective. Some lenders will capitalise part of the fit-out into the loan, others prefer a chattel mortgage or a progress-draw facility that releases funds against builder invoices. We map which route costs less over the life of the loan for your particular build.

Often, yes. A decline from one bank does not mean the purchase cannot be funded. Banks apply rigid credit policies, and a retail-clinical asset with a specialised booth does not always fit neatly, so a presentation or structuring issue is frequently what stood in the way. Non-bank and specialist commercial lenders assess these clinics differently and will consider cases the majors pass on. We review what happened and give you a straight assessment of what is achievable before proceeding.

Most of the time, no. We are paid a commission by the lender once your loan settles, so there is no cost to you. Where your financials are complex, your structure is unusual, or the purchase needs significant preparation before it can go to a lender, a small mandate fee may apply depending on the complexity. We will always be upfront about this before any work begins.

Although we are based in Sydney, we service clients across all major Australian cities, including Melbourne, Perth, Brisbane, the Gold Coast, Adelaide, Canberra and Hobart, along with their surrounding regional areas. Wherever your audiology clinic premises are located, we can arrange your finance.

Although our main speciality is property loans for business owners, we also assist with audiology equipment finance and cash flow for audiology clinics. On asset finance, that covers the sound booth build, audiometry and real-ear measurement equipment, the dispensary fit-out and point-of-sale systems. On working capital, we arrange business overdrafts, lines of credit and cash-flow funding to cover hearing-aid stock, the timing gap on Hearing Services Program claims, and staff wages.

Yes. That is our core ethos, helping you understand the right strategy, structure and clear advice from the very first conversation. Our main borrower profiles are established audiologists and clinic owners seeking finance from $100,000 upwards for their company, so a first commercial loan is well within our wheelhouse. Smaller sole-trader and consumer-style ABN lending sits outside our field.