What Does It Cost to Refinance a Commercial Loan in Australia? (2026)

What Does It Cost to Refinance a Commercial Loan in Australia? (2026)

Every fee in a commercial refinance belongs to one of three buckets: leaving the old loan, joining the new one, and swapping the mortgage registration over. This guide itemises all three, then shows the break-even test that decides whether they are worth paying.

Most guides to commercial refinancing name the fees and stop there. This one itemises them, tells you who charges each one, which apply to fixed rate loans and which to variable, which United States costs you will never actually pay in Australia, and how the total feeds a single break-even number. This is general information, not credit assistance, and lender criteria apply. If the debt you want to move is a business loan or overdraft rather than a loan secured by property, start with our guide to refinancing business loans instead.

What Are the Costs of Refinancing a Commercial Loan?

The table below itemises every cost that commonly appears in an Australian commercial refinance, who charges it, and whether it applies to fixed rate loans, variable rate loans, or both. Where an amount is set by a public schedule we name it and the source. Where it varies deal by deal, we tell you honestly that it varies and what drives it, because an invented figure is worse than no figure.

Ask every incoming lender for its full fee schedule in writing, and your current lender for a payout figure. The two documents together give you your total switching cost, and nothing should be lodged until you have both.

The government fees deserve a sentence because most guides skip them entirely. Your existing mortgage must be formally discharged at the land registry and the incoming lender’s mortgage registered in its place, and each of those dealings attracts a lodgement fee set by the state or territory registry. In New South Wales the 2026 to 2027 NSW Land Registry Services schedule lists both dealings at $166.60 excluding GST ($182.73 including GST as listed on the schedule). The fees are charged per dealing lodged, so a file with more than one mortgage to discharge attracts the fee for each.

Valuation is the cost with the widest folklore around it, so here is the honest version. Commercial valuation quotes range widely because the work ranges widely: an owner-occupied suburban shop or warehouse is a different assignment from a multi-tenanted centre valued on its income. Get the actual quote for your property before you commit rather than budgeting off a horror story, because on smaller commercial assets the figure is often far less frightening than the online commentary suggests.

Do Fixed and Variable Rate Loans Face the Same Costs?

On a variable rate, the exit side of the ledger is usually short: the discharge fee and the government lodgement fees, and that is commonly the end of it. Your loan contract’s fee schedule is the authority on whether anything else applies, so check the document rather than assuming.

A fixed rate is a different conversation. When you fixed, your lender locked in funding to match, and breaking the fixed period early can leave the lender unwinding that position. The break cost passes that on, which is why it moves with three things: the size of the balance, how long the fixed period has left to run, and which way the market has moved since you fixed. The same loan can carry a large break cost one year and almost none the next.

The practical rule never changes: ask your lender for the payout figure before anyone talks you into switching. Sometimes the break cost swallows the saving, sometimes it does not, but the figure comes first, and it belongs in the break-even arithmetic below rather than in anyone’s guesswork. If the fixed period expires soon, pricing the refinance for the day it rolls off is often the cleaner path.

What Is NOT Usually Payable When Refinancing in Australia?

A surprising amount of Australian commercial refinance content is recycled from American templates, complete with American costs. If a guide tells you to budget for the items below, it is describing the wrong country’s mortgage system.

The transfer duty point is worth holding onto, because it is the reason a refinance is so much cheaper than moving premises. Buying a commercial property triggers duty, a longer legal process and the full purchase fee stack; refinancing the loan against a property you already own triggers none of that. For what the purchase side involves, see our commercial property loans guide.

How Do You Work Out the Break-Even on the Costs?

Every cost in this guide exists to feed one piece of arithmetic. Add up the switching costs that apply to your file: the discharge fee, any break cost from your payout figure, the government lodgement fees, and the new lender’s establishment, valuation, legal and documentation fees. Then divide the total by the monthly saving the new loan delivers. The result is your break-even in months, and it is the only number that turns a list of fees into a decision.

The monthly saving side comes from comparing your current repayments against the new offer, and our refinance savings calculator shows what a rate gap is worth over 1 to 30 years before you commit to anything. On a commercial balance, a sharper rate often recovers the cost quickly, and we map the number before anything is lodged. If the break-even lands longer than the time you expect to hold the property or the loan, the costs are telling you something, and it is worth listening.

The break-even is also where the costs meet the process. It is priced at the start, not discovered at the end: in the five step commercial refinance process, the costs are tallied against the saving before anything is lodged, so you know the number while walking away is still free. For the situations where refinancing pays off in the first place, the pillar guide covers when a commercial refinance is actually worth it.

Are Commercial Refinancing Costs Tax Deductible?

Some of the money you spend on a refinance can come back through your tax return. The ATO’s guidance on borrowing expenses sets out the treatment for loans used to buy income-producing property: eligible borrowing expenses are claimed over five years or spread over the term of the loan, whichever is shorter, and where the total deductible borrowing expenses are $100 or less, they are fully deductible in the income year you incur them.

The ATO’s list of claimable borrowing expenses includes several items straight from the table above: loan establishment fees, title search fees charged by your lender, the costs of preparing and filing mortgage documents including solicitors’ fees, mortgage broker fees, and valuation fees required for loan approval. Interest itself is not a borrowing expense; it is claimed separately. And if you repay the loan early, in less than five years, the ATO’s guidance allows the balance of the borrowing expenses to be claimed in the year of repayment.

One caveat belongs in bold. That guidance is written for income-producing property borrowings generally, and how the rules land for your entity, your structure and the purpose of your loan is not a broker question, so speak to your accountant before building deductions into your break-even. We arrange credit; the tax picture needs its own specialist. This is general information, not tax advice.

Does a Streamlined Refinance Reduce the Paperwork Cost?

There is a cost of refinancing that never appears on a fee schedule: the cost of assembling the file. A traditional full-doc commercial refinance asks for tax returns and financial statements, which for many owners means accountant time, accountant invoices and rounds of gathering. For smaller commercial balances, that burden has quietly shrunk.

The streamlined pathway is one lender’s current appetite, not a market-wide rule, and it will not fit every deal. But where it fits, the paperwork cost of finding out where you stand drops to a conversation and a declaration. The pillar guide sets out the full document checklist, traditional versus streamlined, and the wider routes if your financials are not ready, including lease doc and low doc options, in refinancing without full financials.

When Do the Costs Say Stay Put?

Refinancing is a tool, not a reflex, and the costs in this guide are exactly why. A few situations reliably tip the arithmetic toward doing nothing, or toward something cheaper than a full switch.

• The balance is small or the runway is short. Switching has fixed costs, and on a small balance or a loan you plan to clear soon, the saving may never catch them. The break-even calculation makes this obvious in minutes.
• You are about to sell the property. A refinance that settles shortly before a sale is cost without benefit. Hold, sell, move on.
• The break cost swallows the saving. On a fixed rate, the payout figure comes first. If it eats the gain, waiting for the fixed period to roll off and pricing the move for that day is often the sharper play.
• Your current lender will reprice. Asking your existing lender for a sharper rate involves none of the switching costs above, and it is sometimes all that is needed. When repricing wins and when a full switch wins is its own decision, and our guide to repricing with your bank versus switching lenders walks through it.

None of these are reasons to avoid the conversation; they are reasons the conversation is worth having before anything is lodged. A review prices the costs, the saving and the break-even for your specific file, it costs nothing, and you should expect to be told plainly when staying put is the answer.

Frequently asked questions

How much is the discharge fee on a commercial loan?

Lender discharge or settlement fees are commonly a few hundred dollars per facility, though the exact amount is set by your loan contract and varies between lenders. It is listed in the fee schedule of your loan documents, and your lender must confirm it when you request a payout figure. It applies whether your rate is fixed or variable.

Do I pay government fees to refinance a commercial property loan?

Yes. Your existing mortgage must be discharged at the state land registry and the new lender’s mortgage registered in its place, and each dealing attracts a lodgement fee. In New South Wales, the 2026 to 2027 NSW Land Registry Services schedule lists both the discharge of mortgage and the registration of a mortgage at $166.60 each excluding GST. Other states and territories publish their own schedules, and amounts differ.

What are break costs on a fixed rate commercial loan?

A break cost compensates your lender for unwinding the fixed funding behind your loan when you leave during a fixed period. It varies with the loan balance, the time remaining on the fixed term and how market rates have moved since you fixed, so it can be close to nil or substantial. Ask your lender for a formal payout figure before making any decision, because the real number replaces all guesswork.

Do variable rate commercial loans have break costs?

Generally, no. Break costs belong to fixed rate periods, so a fully variable commercial loan usually leaves with only the lender’s discharge fee and the government lodgement fees. Loan contracts differ, and a facility with a fixed portion or special terms can carry exit conditions, so check your fee schedule rather than assuming. The payout figure from your lender settles the question exactly.

Are commercial loan refinancing costs tax deductible?

Often in part, yes. Under ATO guidance, eligible borrowing expenses on a loan used to produce income, such as establishment fees, valuation fees required for approval and the costs of preparing mortgage documents, are generally claimed over five years or the term of the loan, whichever is shorter. Totals of $100 or less are fully deductible in the year incurred. How this applies to your entity and structure is a question for your accountant.

Does using a broker add to the cost of refinancing a commercial loan?

Not with Everstone. Our advice is free to you because the lender pays us when a loan settles, so the broker line in your costs is zero and a review costs nothing to start. If the numbers say a refinance does not make sense for you, we tell you plainly and you have lost nothing.

Is title insurance a cost when refinancing a commercial loan in Australia?

No. Title insurance is a United States mortgage concept that appears in Australian guides recycled from American templates. Australian land titles sit on state-run Torrens registers, and title insurance exists here only as a niche product, not a standard refinance cost. The Australian items to budget for instead are legal and settlement costs and the valuation fee.

How can I reduce the costs of refinancing a commercial loan?

Start with the payout figure from your current lender, because timing a switch for when a fixed period rolls off can remove the break cost entirely. Ask incoming lenders about application fees, which are sometimes waived to win refinance business, and get the valuation quote for your specific property rather than budgeting off worst cases. For loans under $1.5 million, at least one major bank currently offers a streamlined refinance needing one year of clean repayment history and a self-declared statement of position, which cuts the preparation burden. Offers change and criteria apply.

The honest summary

The costs of refinancing a commercial loan are knowable before you commit, and that is the whole point of this page. A discharge fee and a payout figure from the lender you are leaving, published lodgement fees at the land registry, and an establishment fee, valuation, legal and documentation costs from the lender you are joining: every line can sit in front of you before anything is lodged. Divide the total by the monthly saving and you have the break-even in months, which is the only number the decision actually needs. Sometimes it says switch, sometimes it says reprice with the bank you have, and sometimes it says stay put, and you deserve to be told plainly which it is. The review that produces the number costs nothing, because the lender pays us on settlement, not you.