Physiotherapy 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. Allied health premises with treatment rooms and rehab space read differently to a lender than a plain shopfront, so we present you to those who value a stable clinic tenant and price the building accordingly. Owning the space gives a stability a lease rarely offers, and we stay close as you take on more practitioners or open a second room. Every figure is subject to serviceability, lender appetite and approval.

Sometimes. Doctors, dentists and specialists are recognised by almost every lender's medical package, but physiotherapy sits in the variable allied health band. Some banks extend the package to an AHPRA-registered physio and lend up to 80%, while others assess the clinic as standard commercial at 65% to 70%. We take your file to the lender most likely to recognise you as a professional.

It depends on whether the lender extends its medical package to you. Where a bank recognises an AHPRA physiotherapist, owner-occupier LVRs reach 80%, or up to 100% on the clinic alone without your home as security. Standard commercial sits nearer 65% to 70%, and investment or SMSF 65% to 75%. Recognition is the main lever, so talk to us and we will map yours.

Most physiotherapy clinics are valued on a standard commercial basis as consulting or medical suites, using comparable sales and the market rent the space would achieve. The clinical fit-out is modest compared with a dental or imaging practice, so valuers rarely discount heavily, but items like a rehab gym, a hydrotherapy pool or a reformer studio are treated as fit-out rather than saleable improvement and add little to the valuation. Where you occupy part of a larger suite and lease the rest, the leased portion is valued on its rent roll and lease covenants. We order an upfront valuation read where it matters so there are no surprises at credit.

When you buy the premises your clinic already occupies, lenders let you add the rent you currently pay back into your serviceability, because that cost disappears once you own the building. For an established physiotherapy clinic paying commercial rent, this often means the repayment on a purchase services more comfortably than the numbers first suggest. It is the main reason stepping from leasing to owning is rarely the stretch it looks like on paper. We model the new repayment against your current rent so you can see the real difference before committing.

Yes. There are two routes, and the right one depends on the cost and how you want the security structured. Some lenders capitalise the fit-out into the property loan, spreading it over the term at property rates, while others prefer to fund the rehab-gym equipment, treatment plinths, electrotherapy modalities and hydrotherapy plant separately through a chattel mortgage or equipment line that keeps depreciating kit off the property security. A progress-draw facility can release funds against builder invoices during a fit-out. We map which route costs less over the life of the loan for your particular build.

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 a physiotherapy 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.

Yes, and it is common for physiotherapy clinics to hold the premises in a discretionary trust or a company, separate from the entity that treats patients. Lenders will underwrite the trust deed or company constitution, the borrowing entity and the guarantors together, and usually require all-in guarantees from each director or trustee tested for standalone servicing. A service entity arrangement, where practitioners bill through a shared company, is also well understood. We present how income flows through the structure so it strengthens the application rather than stalling it.

Often, yes. A decline frequently means your bank does not extend its medical package to physiotherapists and assessed the clinic as standard commercial, or that the file was presented in a way that understated your income. A different lender may recognise an AHPRA physio, or a non-bank may assess the purchase on its merits. Sometimes a structuring or presentation issue is all that stood between you and an approval. We will give you an honest assessment of what is possible before proceeding.

For a full-doc application, most lenders want two to three years of clinic financial statements and tax returns, personal tax returns for all guarantors, and a copy of the contract of sale or expression of interest. If the borrower is a trust or company, the deed or constitution and associated financials are also needed. Many physiotherapists, particularly newer clinic owners or those billing through a service entity, do not fit neatly into a standard full-doc assessment. Non-bank lenders offer alt-doc and low-doc options where income is 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 what they earn. 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.

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 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 physiotherapy clinic premises are located, we can arrange your finance.

Although our main speciality is property loans for business owners, we also assist with physiotherapy equipment finance and cash flow for physiotherapists. On asset finance, that covers rehab-gym and exercise equipment, treatment plinths, electrotherapy modalities, hydrotherapy plant, clinic fit-out and clinic vehicles for home visits. On working capital, we arrange business overdrafts, lines of credit and cash-flow funding to cover wages, a lease bond, consumables, and the cost of opening a second site.

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 physiotherapists 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.