Refinance your bulky goods showroom property loan

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. On a large format refinance the number comes out of an income capitalisation, which means two things get read before anything else: how the property is classified, and the lease sitting behind the income. We settle both before the valuer is instructed, place the file, and stay with it past drawdown. Every figure is subject to serviceability, lender appetite and approval.

We refinance commercial facilities from $50K up to $30M, across showrooms running from around 1,500 sqm through to 10,000 sqm and up. The new limit is set by the current valuation and by servicing, not by what you originally borrowed.

Because your bank can only tell you what your bank will do, and in large format the widest variable is not the LVR but how the valuation gets instructed. A building read as an industrial shed and priced on a rate per square metre lands on a number the deal cannot carry. We do the legwork: we run the comparison across more than 40 lenders, settle the classification before the instruction goes out, and present to one at a time so your credit file does not collect an enquiry for every conversation. We also model the break costs, valuation and legals against what moving actually gains you.

75% to 80% of the current value. A large format showroom is standard commercial security, grouped with offices and warehouses rather than with specialised assets. The figure follows a fresh valuation, not the price you originally paid.

By capitalising the income the property produces, supported by comparable sales. The inputs a valuer works to are the lease terms, any turnover clause, the strength of the anchor tenants around the site and the car parking ratio. That is a different instrument to the comparable sales approach used on a strip shop, and it is not an industrial rate per square metre, which is the reading that costs large format owners money. The premises are valued on their income as premises. Your business is assessed separately, in servicing.

More than most owners expect, and more at a refinance than at purchase. Because the property is valued by capitalising income, a valuer reads the lease in place alongside market rent evidence. A lease that is properly documented, on commercial terms, at a rent supported by an independent appraisal, with a stated term and a review mechanism, is evidence they can work from. A one-page arrangement at a rent set at settlement and never reviewed gives them very little, so the rent gets assessed from the market instead. Tidying that up before the valuer is instructed is within your control and costs very little.

It is a thing to fix rather than a problem, and the refinance is the natural moment. A related party lease still has to be on commercial terms, and a rent that has stood still for years is harder for a valuer to rely on than one that has been reviewed the way the lease provides. Getting an independent rental appraisal and documenting the review is straightforward, and it puts a usable piece of evidence in front of the valuation rather than leaving the rent to be assessed entirely from outside.

Because on a capitalised asset the value moves for two independent reasons. The rent the property commands can move, and the rate that rent is capitalised at can move, and either one shifts the number on its own. That cuts both ways, which is why we work out what has actually changed before a valuation is ordered rather than after. If the numbers do not support a move we will tell you before you spend anything on it.

Yes, where the current valuation supports it. Cash out on a commercial refinance is assessed on the purpose of the funds, so the lender wants to know what it is for. Expanding the trading floor, a fitout, racking, a car park upgrade, the deposit on a second showroom or a working capital buffer are all ordinary purposes. We evidence the purpose properly at the outset, which is what keeps it straightforward.

Check it, because large format sites sit in business-development zones that restrict what may lawfully be sold from them, and a trading range naturally broadens over the years. This is a checkable position rather than a hurdle, and knowing it before a file is lodged is far better than having it raised during an assessment. Where a range has moved beyond what the consent permits, we establish what is involved in putting it right before anything goes to a lender.

Often not. The most frequent cause in large format is a credit team reading the building as an industrial shed and pricing it on an industrial rate per square metre, which lands on a value the request cannot carry. Presenting it as retail, with the income capitalisation, the lease and the permitted use set out properly, changes the answer more often than owners expect. Non-bank and specialist lenders assess retail differently and several publish an LVR the majors will not commit to in writing.

Four to six weeks from application to settlement for a straightforward file. Where the lease needs documenting or a rental appraisal ordered first, allow a little longer at the front, which is time well spent because it improves the valuation the whole file rests on. We give you a realistic timeline at the start.

The existing loan statements, two to three years of financial statements and tax returns for the trading entity, personal tax returns and notices of assessment for the guarantors, a statement of assets and liabilities, and the schedules for the racking, handling and vehicle facilities. For this asset the two that matter most are the lease between your property entity and your operating company, with any rent reviews, and the zoning or permitted use for the site.

The costs are a valuation, legal and settlement fees, any lender establishment fee, discharge costs from your current lender, and break costs where you are leaving a fixed rate. Break costs are an economic cost, so they are calculated on the day and vary with how much fixed term is left. We put the real numbers against the benefit before you commit to anything.

Yes, it is possible, and we arrange these. Retail premises sit comfortably inside a fund, and this is also one of the more intricate refinances in commercial finance, where the detail decides whether it works. From 10 August 2026 a new arrangement can only be used for business real property. A showroom trading wholly as a business qualifies, and it does not matter whether you or a tenant runs it, while a property with a residence on the same title generally does not. It has to stay the same single property. It is limited to the balance outstanding plus accrued interest, so there is no top up, no redraw and no cash out inside the fund, and borrowed money cannot fund an improvement, which means the arrangement cannot pay to expand the floor. The leaseback matters more here than anywhere: your operating company leases the showroom back in writing, at market rent supported by an independent appraisal, and the rent has to actually be paid. The holding trust is reassigned to the incoming lender rather than dissolved, which carries a legal cost worth weighing against the gain. Cross-collateralisation is not available inside super. Reassign the holding trust to the incoming lender on the same single property, the major banks have exited SMSF lending, and lenders want a liquidity buffer 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 a large format showroom 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.

Most of the time, no. Where a refinance requires significant preparation due to its complexity, a small mandate fee may apply, and 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 showroom is located, we can arrange your finance.

Beyond refinancing the showroom, we also assist with asset finance and working capital. On asset finance, that covers racking and shelving, materials handling equipment, forklifts, delivery vehicles, display fitout and point-of-sale systems. On working capital, we arrange business overdrafts, lines of credit and cash-flow funding to carry floor stock between the order and the sale, and we can fold these into the refinance where it makes sense.

Yes, and it is more common than you would think, because the loan is set up at settlement and then simply runs while the floor and the precinct change around it. 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 business owners and commercial property investors with facilities from $50,000 upwards. We will start by telling you how the property is likely to be classified and valued now, how your lease will read to a valuer, what sits on your current facility, what moving costs, and whether it is worth making. If it is not, we will say so and you can stay where you are.