Home loan specialists for hospitality business owners

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. For venue owners that means presenting a seasonal year as the business model it is, mapping the guarantees behind a lease before a lender finds them, and identifying the add-backs that hospitality accounts routinely bury. Commercial property for business owners is our main speciality, so the freehold is familiar ground. Every figure is subject to serviceability, lender appetite and approval.

It depends almost entirely on how it is presented. Seasonality is the model in hospitality rather than a flaw in the business, but monthly figures handed over without a trading calendar behind them read as volatility. Two to three years showing the same rhythm, forward bookings where they exist, and a cost base that flexes with trade are what let a lender read the annual picture rather than the quietest quarter.

Across our lending we arrange finance from $50K up to $30M, and home loans sit within that range, including prestige purchases that fall outside standard bank policy. Your borrowing capacity comes down to income, existing commitments and the property itself.

No, and it is better to say so plainly. The mortgage insurance waivers are written around registered professions such as medicine, law and accounting. What is available to you instead is a lender that reads seasonal business income properly, a deposit structured sensibly, and additional security to reach the full purchase price where that suits. In practice that is worth more than a waiver would have been.

Yes, and it is the one most often missed. A personal guarantee supporting a lease is not a loan and does not appear on your credit file the way a facility does, but a lender has to assume you could be called on and counts it against your capacity. Disclosing it up front is far better than having it emerge late in an application.

Depreciation on fit-out and kitchen equipment is usually the largest, because it reduces taxable income without reducing the cash available to service a loan. One-off refurbishment costs, superannuation beyond the compulsory rate and interest on debt being refinanced sit alongside it. Which ones a lender accepts varies, and none count unless they are identified and evidenced properly.

That is common after a refurbishment, a licence change or a strong season. Recent business activity statements, year-to-date management accounts and an accountant’s letter can evidence current trading where the lodged returns lag behind. Not every lender will look at it, which is exactly the point: the lender chosen decides whether the current year counts.

Not necessarily, so push back on it. Business lending can be secured over the business assets through a general security agreement. In hospitality the home is sought more often than in other sectors because fit-out and goodwill are harder security than plant, but once your home is attached, selling or refinancing it involves both lenders for as long as the facility runs.

It is reachable, and the mechanism differs by side. For a home, 100% comes from bringing additional security: a family member offering their own property, or equity added from a property you already own. For a commercial purchase, up to 100% of the price is achievable where you add equity from a property you already own. In both cases your income still has to service the whole loan.

It depends on your position rather than a general rule. Buying the home first is often cleaner, because capacity is at its highest before a commercial facility exists. Buying the freehold first can be the better move where rent is substantial, since the rent you stop paying is added back when serviceability is tested. We model both sequences with real figures so you can see what each costs the other.

It can do either, and it comes down to how the group is presented. Multiple sites can demonstrate a proven operator and spread revenue across locations, so one weak site does not decide the year. They also multiply the facilities and guarantees sitting in your position. Presented as a group with consolidated figures it usually reads as strength; presented as separate entities with separate debts it reads as complexity.

Yes, and most venue owners already hold assets that way. What changes is how the income is traced: a distribution from a discretionary trust generally needs a consistent history before a lender treats it as income, and the entity accounts need to agree with what is being claimed. How you hold assets is a decision for you and your accountant.

Yes, and it is the larger part of what we do. Where a venue is sold as a going concern the property and the trade are valued together, which gears differently to standard commercial property, and our commercial mortgage for hospitality property page sets out how those purchases work.

Generally two years of business financial statements and tax returns, two years of personal returns and notices of assessment, recent business activity statements, your lease and any guarantees given, details of fit-out and equipment facilities, identification, and statements for existing debts. Where a trust or company is involved, add the entity accounts and deed.

Pre-approval commonly comes through within a few days once the documents are together, though hospitality files take longer to assemble than salaried ones because the trading picture has to be set out. Full approval after you have found a property depends on the lender and the valuation.

In most cases our service does not cost you anything. We are paid by the lender once your loan settles, so you get the comparison across more than 40 lenders and the management of the process at no charge. If anything unusual applies to your situation, we will be upfront about it 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 in Australia you are buying, we can arrange your home loan.

Commercial property for business owners is our main speciality, so alongside your home loan we arrange finance to buy the freehold your venue trades from, and to buy a venue as a going concern. We also arrange fit-out and equipment finance for kitchens and bars, and working capital to carry stock and wages through a quiet season.

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.