June 12, 2026 Office, Education & Childcare

What Goes Into a Corporate Office Commercial Mortgage

Owning the office your business works from is a defining step, and it is more within reach than many owners assume. At Ardent Capital Group we speak with professional firms about this kind of commercial property purchase, so this guide walks through how a lender reads an owner-occupier office and what shapes the terms you can access.

Ardent Capital Group arranges commercial mortgages for corporate office owners and investors across Australia. Our team helps you move from tenant to owner and gives clear lending advice on structure and strategy.

Access finance from $100,000 to $10,000,000+, sized to strata offices, whole floors and small office buildings.
Over $500,000,000 in funding facilitated across a decade, supporting more than 1,000 borrowers.
Service across Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane, Perth, Adelaide, Canberra, Hobart and surrounding regional towns.
Structures for owner-occupiers and investors, including SMSF and lease-back arrangements.

Reasons to own your corporate office premises

Office operations tie tightly to a physical address. Clients expect a stable location, staff plan commutes around transport and parking, and your brand lives on the door. A quality office fit-out is expensive, from structured cabling and server rooms to meeting room AV, access control, kitchens and end-of-trip facilities. Owning the premises lets you amortise that spend over the life of the asset, safeguard the layout from landlord changes, and add value with improvements.

Repayments build an owned asset on your balance sheet. You control signage rights, car spaces, building services upgrades and operating hours. Subletting surplus space can offset holding costs if configured correctly. In stabilised locations such as CBD fringes, health precincts and established suburban centres, office ownership can anchor your business for the long term.

Main drivers:

Secure location and continuity for clients and staff, with control over floor plate, fit-out and building access.
Convert rising rent into principal reduction and equity growth over time.
Tax treatment on interest and depreciation of fit-out, subject to your structure and circumstances.
Ability to tailor technology, resilience and security standards to your requirements.

Buying may not suit if your lease horizon is short, a relocation is planned, headcount growth will outpace the floor plate, or capital is better deployed into hiring, product or acquisition. The decision sits with you.

How the finance works for a corporate office

Deposit and LVR. Owner-occupier office purchases typically gear up to 80 per cent of value, so a deposit from around 20 per cent, with stronger asset classes and owner-occupiers reaching the top of that range. In some cases the full purchase price can be funded when you leverage your equity or add other security, and our broker team can explain how.
Loan term and structure. Bank terms commonly run 10 to 15 years and non-bank terms extend to 25 to 30 years. Repayments can be principal and interest for steady amortisation, or interest only for a period to prioritise cash flow during fit-out or ramp-up.
Security and serviceability. The property is the primary security. Lenders assess business financials, serviceability on actual or projected owner-occupier rent, and may seek director guarantees. Outgoings such as strata levies, insurance and rates are included in the assessment.
Owner-occupier treatment. Lenders generally view owner-occupier offices favourably because vacancy risk is tied to your trading performance rather than the broader leasing market. Pricing and terms often reflect that lower risk.

How the purchase is usually structured

Many corporate office owners hold the premises in a separate entity, such as a company or trust, and lease it back to the trading business at a commercial rent. A lender reads that inter-entity lease as the serviceability line, so the rent set between the entities and the lease terms, options and make-good provisions all feed the assessment. Holding the asset separately also ring-fences it from the trading business and gives the lender a clear tenancy to price.

Where the premises suits it, some owners hold a professional or medical office inside an SMSF. Commercial premises generally qualify as business real property, so the fund can hold the building and lease it to the trading entity at market rate under a limited recourse borrowing arrangement, with the finance secured against that single asset. Borrowing rules, contribution limits and liquidity all shape what is workable. The lending is what we structure and place, and your accountant and, for a fund, a licensed SMSF adviser confirm the tax and ownership detail before anything is settled.

What underwriters focus on

Business financials: Two to three years financial statements, BAS, management accounts, cash flow forecasts where growth or change is material.
Serviceability: Earnings capacity, addbacks, interest cover, and the rent your operating company will pay. Consideration of outgoings and any sublease income.
Property and valuation: Location, building grade, condition, strata health, parking, lifts, compliance, and independent valuation.
Deposit and equity position: Cash, term deposits, or equity in other property available for security.
Lease and occupancy: Proposed lease between the property entity and trading business, any third-party tenants, and vacancy plans if expanding in stages.

A specialist broker understands how to present an office purchase, set the rent and structure to lender standards, and source terms that fit your usage and growth plan.

A worked example

This is an illustrative scenario that shows the kind of situation we can assist with, and how the thinking might run.

Situation: Melbourne-based consulting firm with 42 staff, renting two adjoining strata suites and paying $29,500 per month. It wants a single 800 to 1,000 sqm floor with 10 to 12 car spaces to consolidate.
Target asset: Strata office floor at $4,200,000 with existing base building services. Planned fit-out budget of $700,000 for meeting rooms, quiet zones, AV, access control and end-of-trip facilities.
Deposit position: A $1,050,000 deposit at 75 per cent LVR drawn from cash reserves and a small top-up against the directors' residential equity.
Lending paths considered: An owner-occupier loan up to 80 per cent LVR, 20-year term, principal and interest, with interest only for the first 24 months during fit-out. A blend of mortgage cash-out and a dedicated fit-out facility to fund the works.
Holding arrangements reviewed: A property trust with a corporate trustee leasing to the trading company at market rent, with an SMSF path reviewed against fund balances and liquidity for a possible staged acquisition later.
Cash flow modelled: Repayments comparable to the current rent once the interest only period ends, with potential savings if a small portion of the floor is sublet for the first two years.
How we would approach it: We would map the ranges, structures and repayments, then present the file to the lenders that suit an owner-occupier office of this profile. The figures above are illustrative, not confirmed outcomes.

Beyond the mortgage: corporate office finance

Asset finance for office technology and furniture: Fund servers, switching, Wi-Fi, AV, security, workstations and collaboration hardware aligned to refresh cycles, often through office fit-out finance.
Fit-out and refurbishment finance: Partitioning, acoustic treatments, kitchens, end-of-trip, cabling and HVAC upgrades with staged drawdowns tied to milestones.
Working capital loans: Manage cash flow through relocation, fit-out progress claims and parallel rent during notice periods, using working capital for an office.
Business overdraft: Smooth receivables cycles where enterprise clients pay on 30 to 60 day terms.
Refinancing and debt consolidation: Reset pricing, tidy multiple facilities and free capacity against growing equity.
Construction and renovation: Complete base building works on a shell floor, combine suites, or add amenities to lift tenant experience for any sublet space.
Business or premises acquisition finance: Buy an adjoining lot, purchase the unit next door for future expansion, or buy out a co-owner.

These facilities can interact, for example ownership building equity that can support future upgrades, or a refinance consolidating fit-out and working capital into a clearer structure.

Working with a corporate office finance specialist

Ardent Capital Group arranges commercial mortgages for corporate office owners and investors. We structure finance around how you intend to hold and occupy the property, set market rent for lease-back, and align terms with cash flow and fit-out timing. Our office property loan specialists work across purchase, refinance and equity release.

We service Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane, Gold Coast, Perth, Adelaide, Canberra and surrounding metro and regional areas. We have helped facilitate over $500,000,000 in funding over a decade for more than 1,000 borrowers. If you are weighing up an office purchase, we would be glad to talk it through. Our aim is optimal financial outcomes without noise.

Common questions

How much deposit do I need to buy an office for my business?

Owner-occupier office purchases typically gear up to 80 per cent, so plan for a deposit from around 20 per cent. Stronger positions and asset classes reach the top of that range.

Can my SMSF buy our office and lease it back to the trading company?

Yes, commercial premises generally qualify as business real property. The fund can lease to your business at market rent under a limited recourse borrowing arrangement, with careful attention to contributions, liquidity and documentation.

Will lenders fund the fit-out as part of the purchase?

Some will include a portion for fit-out within the mortgage or allow cash-out against improved value. Many owners pair a fit-out or equipment facility with the property loan, using staged drawdowns tied to builder claims.

Do lenders prefer strata offices or freehold buildings?

Both are financeable. Lenders look for strong locations, sound building services, compliant strata and healthy sinking funds on strata, or tenanting flexibility and condition on freehold.

How do banks view hybrid working risk for owner-occupiers?

For owner-occupiers the focus is on your trading performance, utilisation of space and stability of revenue, rather than broader leasing vacancy. Clear headcount plans and a right-sized floor plate help.

What loan term can I expect, and can I take interest only?

Bank terms commonly run 10 to 15 years and non-bank terms extend to 25 to 30 years. Interest only for a period is available with some lenders where it suits fit-out timing or cash flow priorities.

Can I buy the adjoining suite now and merge later?

Yes, lenders can pre-approve capacity for staged purchases or variations. Valuation, construction scope and the combined end-state plan will guide structure and timing.

Written by

Nick Chong

Managing Director, M.AppFin, Dip. Mortgage Mgmt

Nick holds a Bachelor of Agricultural Economics, a Master of Applied Finance and an Advanced Diploma in Financial Planning. He founded Ardent Capital in 2016 after more than a decade in financial planning and mortgage broking. For the past ten years he has led a team of finance specialists, mortgage advisers, brokers and credit analysts, all working to secure optimal outcomes for clients and always acting in their best interests. The team brings both a qualitative and a quantitative approach to every deal.