Caravan and holiday park property loans

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. A park reads as a going concern, where mixed site fees, cabin tariffs and seasonal occupancy come together as income, so it belongs with lenders who understand that trading history. Right through adding sites or picking up a second property, the same team stays with you well past settlement. Every figure is subject to serviceability, lender appetite and approval.

The site mix is the main driver. Permanent and annual residents pay fees every week, so a park weighted toward them funds at the top of the 50% to 60% band, while a mostly tourist, seasonal park lands at the bottom. Where your site register sits decides the number, so talk to us.

A freehold going concern park is generally funded to 50% to 60% of value, so a deposit of 40% to 50% is common. The main lever is how much of the income comes from permanent residents rather than tourist sites. With extra security, a cross-collateralised structure can reach up to 100% of the price. The exact number depends on your file, so talk to us.

The park is valued as one going concern, and the cabin income feeds the earnings the valuer capitalises, so the cabins are not carved out and valued as standalone assets. What changes is the security. Whether a cabin is a fixture or a chattel is decided unit by unit, not park by park, and it turns on how it is attached to the land. A cabin on a concrete slab, plumbed and permanently connected, generally reads as a fixture and forms part of the land, so it is captured by the mortgage. A relocatable or manufactured home resting on piers or a chassis and designed to be moved generally reads as a chattel, and the fact that it has sat in the same spot for years does not by itself make it a fixture. Chattel cabins are secured separately, usually by registration on the PPSR, and registering them correctly keeps the lender's security clean and settlement on schedule. We work out which cabins fall on which side of the line early, because it changes the security structure and the settlement timetable.

They have to, and it is worth confirming before you sign. A park operates under a caravan park licence or approval to operate issued under state legislation and administered by the local council, with conditions covering site numbers, amenities ratios, setbacks and fire safety. That approval must transfer to you at settlement, and a lender will want evidence that it will. Zoning is equally specific, and most parks sit in a tourist, recreation or special-purpose zone that limits any alternative use of the land. Licensing is state-based and council-administered, so the detail varies by where the park is.

By a specialist tourism or accommodation valuer, on the income the park collects, capitalised on its earnings. It is not a rate per square metre and it is not land value, which is why two parks of the same size on the same coast can value very differently. The valuer reviews the site register, the split between tourist and permanent sites, occupancy and tariffs, the condition of the amenities and cabins, the licence, and comparable park sales. Because value follows income, a park that adds cabins or permanent sites genuinely becomes worth more, which is what makes a revaluation and equity release possible later.

They expect it, and they want to see how you fund it. A park in a coastal holiday town can take most of its annual income in six or seven weeks and still be carrying wages, rates and maintenance through a quiet winter. Lenders look at the full-year figures rather than a peak month, at how deep the trough runs, and at whether permanent-site income covers the fixed costs when the tourists are gone. A working capital facility or overdraft that carries pre-season maintenance and is repaid across summer is a normal part of a park structure, and we usually arrange it alongside the property loan.

Two to three years of park financial statements and tax returns, BAS lodgements, the site register, occupancy and booking reports, and the permanent-resident site agreements. Lenders also want relevant operating experience. There is no licensing gate on borrowing, and a buyer with accommodation or park management experience gets a strong outcome, while a newcomer gets the strongest result by pairing the application with hands-on management experience or a solid handover plan, which we help arrange. Where the park has traded under a previous owner, the vendor's figures are the starting point, and we help you interrogate them before you rely on them.

Yes, but it is funded very differently. A large number of Australian parks sit on council or Crown land under a long lease, which means you are buying the business, the cabins and the lease, not the dirt. Funding is typically 40% to 45%, so the deposit is materially larger, the loan term is capped by the years remaining on the lease, and many major banks will not write leasehold at all, which pushes the funding to the non-bank market. On a leasehold park the remaining lease term sets how far the funding can stretch, so we check it first and structure the loan to the years you have. We will tell you early if it does not stack up.

For a full-doc application, most lenders want two to three years of business financial statements and tax returns, personal tax returns for all guarantors, the contract of sale, the caravan park licence details, the site register and the park occupancy and tariff reports. Many park owners do not fit a standard full-doc assessment neatly, particularly family-run parks where the residence and the business share a set of books. Alt-doc and low-doc routes exist, supported by an accountant's declaration, BAS lodgements and business bank statements. We work through your income situation upfront to identify the best approach.

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 park 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 trading park generally qualifies, and an on-site manager's residence is generally incidental. A park with a large permanent-resident population is a less settled position and may warrant a private ruling. Your operating company leases the park back from the fund, in writing, at market rent supported by an independent appraisal, and the rent has to actually be paid. Cross-collateralisation is not available inside super, so the fund needs its own deposit and the 100% LVR structures described elsewhere on this page do not work here. 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 a holiday park 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.

Often, yes. A decline usually means the park went to a lender whose appetite did not match the asset, not that the park is unfundable. Banks are conservative on tourism security, and a park that is tourist-weighted, held on a council lease, or carrying cabins outside the freehold valuation will fail a standard commercial credit template. Non-bank and specialist lenders assess parks on their site income, are more comfortable with seasonality and with cabins funded on a separate line, and will consider a shorter trading history. We will give you a straight answer on whether it is fundable elsewhere.

Yes, and it is some of the most useful work we do. Adding cabins to unpowered sites, replacing a tired amenities block, building a camp kitchen or putting in a pool all lift the tariff the park can charge, and value follows income. Building works can be funded on progress draws against certified works, cabins can be funded on chattel mortgage or on progress payments to the manufacturer, and plant such as pool equipment, ride-on mowers and laundry gear sits under equipment finance. Where the park has grown its income since purchase, a revaluation will often release the equity to pay for the upgrade.

Most of the time, no. We are paid a commission by the lender once your loan settles. Where a purchase requires significant preparation, a small mandate fee may apply, and we will always be upfront about this before 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 park is located, we can arrange your finance.

Although our main speciality is property loans for business owners, we also assist with asset finance for holiday park operators and working capital for holiday park operators. On asset finance, that covers cabins and relocatable homes, amenities and camp-kitchen fit-out, pool and playground plant, park vehicles and ride-on mowers, laundry equipment and reception and booking technology. On working capital, we arrange business overdrafts, lines of credit and cash-flow funding to cover the off-season trough, pre-season readiness and maintenance, and wages through the peak.

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 caravan and holiday park operators and accommodation owners seeking finance from $100,000 upwards, so a first commercial loan is well within our wheelhouse. We will walk you through the going-concern structure, the deposit a park genuinely needs, and how the site mix will be read, before you commit to anything.