Optometry practice 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. The premises is owner-occupied healthcare property, a consulting and retail space held by an established professional practice, and the case goes to a financier comfortable with exactly that. As you grow the practice or add a second location, our partnership carries on. For a Sydney purchase specifically, we cover the market in more depth on our commercial property loans Sydney page. Every figure is subject to serviceability, lender appetite and approval.

Going direct to your bank means one set of lending criteria and one answer. An optometry practice is a retail-clinical hybrid, and not every lender is comfortable valuing a shop that is part testing lane and part dispensary. A specialist broker knows which lenders read optical practices correctly, how they treat strata and shopping-centre tenancies, and how to present your trading figures so the deal is approved. You get the right lenders for your situation, so you are not enquiring lender by lender, rather than working through a list and collecting unnecessary declines.

Optometry premises funding runs from $50K up to $30M, from a single consulting room and dispensary through to a larger practice bought with the property. Diagnostic equipment and the frame dispensary fit-out are commonly funded alongside.

Owner-occupier optometrists can typically borrow up to 65% to 70%, reflecting the retail-clinical valuation lenders use for optical premises; an investment purchase sits a little lower. Where a lender recognises your profession it can fund up to 100% without your home as security. Commercial SMSF lending reaches 80% on loans from $100,000 to $10 million, with no liquidity or net asset requirement on the fund, and terms of 15 to 30 years with up to five years interest only. Most lenders will still want cash left in the fund after settlement. Talk to us for your number.

Both matter more than most borrowers expect. On the property side, a strata shop in a shopping centre is assessed on the centre's lease terms, turnover-rent clauses and foot traffic, while a freehold shopfront on a strong strip is usually read as a more stable asset. On the business side, a banner-group or franchise agreement can add stability through brand and buying power, but lenders check the term, territory and exit clauses to see what happens to the loan if the arrangement ends. An independent practice is assessed purely on its own trading history and goodwill. We present the lease and any agreement so both read as a strength.

Optometry premises are valued on a retail-clinical basis, a blend of the retail location and the clinical fit-out. Valuers weigh the position, foot traffic, tenancy mix and lease terms heavily, because for a shop the location is much of the asset. The testing-lane fit-out and dispensary are recognised but a conservative valuer discounts non-transferable improvements. This is why the LVR sits around 65% to 70%, below the higher bands that recognised medical professions attract.

For a straightforward owner-occupier purchase, most clients receive indicative credit terms within 48 hours of our first conversation. Formal approval usually follows within one to two weeks, and settlement typically runs three to six weeks with a bank or two to four weeks with a non-bank lender. Strata purchases, SMSF lending and shopping-centre tenancies take longer because there are more records to assess. We give you a realistic timeline upfront so your purchase schedule stays intact.

For a full-doc application, most lenders require two to three years of practice financial statements and tax returns, personal tax returns for all guarantors, and a copy of the contract of sale or the lease if the shop is strata. If the borrower is a company or trust, the constitution or deed and associated financials are also needed. Many practice owners, particularly those who are self-employed or trade under a banner-group agreement, do not fit neatly into a standard full-doc assessment. Non-bank lenders offer alt-doc and low-doc options where income can be evidenced through an accountant's declaration, BAS statements or bank statements rather than full financials. These come with slightly higher rates but open the door for 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 is used when your own practice trades from the shop. Lenders assess your retail-clinical trading figures alongside the property and offer LVRs up to 65% to 70%. Investment finance is used when you buy an optical premises to lease to another optometrist. Lenders focus on the rental income, lease terms and tenant quality, the LVR usually sits a little lower, and a short lease or vacancy can be harder to finance. If you occupy part of a site and lease the rest, we split the presentation so each portion is assessed on its own terms.

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 practice 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 practice 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. Commercial SMSF lending reaches 80% on loans from $100,000 to $10 million, with no liquidity or net asset requirement on the fund, and terms of 15 to 30 years with up to five years interest only. Most lenders will still want cash left in the fund after settlement. We know this sounds complicated, and we can assist to make things clearer. 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 optometry practice 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. Our SMSF medical and health premises page covers how a fund buys practice premises and what changes from one practice type to the next.

Often, yes. A decline from your bank does not mean the purchase is not fundable. Banks apply rigid credit policies, and a retail-clinical asset like an optical shop, especially a small strata lot or a shopping-centre tenancy, does not always fit within them. Non-bank lenders assess these sites differently, and sometimes a structuring or presentation issue is all that stood between you and an approval. We give you an honest assessment of what is possible before proceeding.

Yes, it is possible, subject to serviceability, lender appetite and approval from our lender panel. Commercial lenders on our panel run mid doc programs where income is self-certified and supported by just one of the following: an accountant's letter, your last two BAS statements, six months of trading bank statements, one year's tax return and notice of assessment, or one year's financial statement. Mid doc reaches the same 80% LVR ceiling as a full doc application on loans to $4 million. A quick doc option, self-certified with no supporting document, sits at 65%. This is the usual route where a recent fit-out, a relocation or a service entity structure makes your last set of accounts a poor guide to what the practice earns now.

Sometimes, and it is a separate question from the retail-clinical valuation lenders apply to optical premises. Non-bank commercial lenders assess the premises as commercial property rather than through an allied health package, and publish up to 80% on full doc and mid doc for loans from $100,000 to $4 million, 70% between $4 million and $10 million, and 65% on quick doc. For a standard consulting suite in a populated area that can sit above what a bank offers on a package assessment. We look at both routes rather than assuming one is the better one. Every figure is subject to serviceability, lender appetite and approval.

Up to 30 years principal and interest, with interest only for up to five years, and an application can be made to extend the interest only period by a further year. A separate lender on our panel publishes interest only for up to eight years at 80% LVR, which carries a rate loading. A 30 year term on commercial security is longer than most banks will offer, and it changes what the repayment looks like against your consulting and dispensing revenue. Every figure is subject to serviceability, lender appetite and approval.

Not with every lender. Some commercial facilities on our panel carry no annual reviews and no unused facility fees, so once the loan settles it runs on its terms. Bank commercial facilities are more commonly subject to an annual review, where the lender revisits your financials and can reprice or restructure the facility. If you would rather not repeat that exercise every year, raise it at the start, because it narrows which lenders suit the file.

Most of the time, no. Where your financials are complex, your structure is unusual, or the purchase requires significant preparation before it can go to a lender, we may charge a small mandate fee 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 optometry practice premises are located, we can arrange your finance.

Although our main speciality is property loans for business owners, we also assist with optical equipment finance and cash flow for optometrists. On asset finance, that covers optical equipment and fit-out such as OCT, auto-refractors, phoropters and slit lamps, an edging lab, the shopfit and POS systems. On working capital, we arrange business overdrafts, lines of credit and cash-flow funding to cover frame and lens stock, seasonal retail swings and staff wages. We also arrange home loans. Optometrists borrow to 90% with the mortgage insurance premium waived, and one major applies no minimum income: see home loans for optometrists. Where you are fitting out rather than buying, we also arrange consulting room fitout finance.

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 optometrists and practice owners seeking finance from $50,000 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.

No. Arranging finance and advising on financial products are two different disciplines, and we do the first. What we bring is the credit analysis lenders require, the structuring of the facility, and the strategy for putting your application in front of lenders whose appetite matches it.

Because we act as a credit representative under an Australian Credit Licence, we do not give financial product, superannuation, taxation or legal advice, and nothing we provide should be taken as such. Where your circumstances need that input, we are happy to work with your accountant, financial adviser and solicitor to understand the full picture before anything is submitted.

The information on this page is general in nature and does not take account of your objectives, financial situation or needs.