Commercial Property Loans Brisbane: Former Bankers for Sheds, Surgeries and Shopfronts in a City Running Short of Industrial Land Before the 2032 Games
- What a credit desk does with Brisbane’s 2032 growth story
- Queensland transfer duty, registration fees and GST at Brisbane commercial prices
- Queensland land tax: two thresholds and a 3 per cent surcharge
- Brisbane first-year holding cost estimator
- Industrial: TradeCoast, the south and west, and yards that are 96.87 per cent full
- Office, medical and childcare: three Brisbane files, three different reads
- Buying Brisbane business premises through an SMSF after 10 August 2026
- Refinancing or releasing equity on a Brisbane commercial loan
- Brisbane’s precincts through our suburb pages
- Expat, interstate and foreign buyers, and how a South Yarra former banker runs a Brisbane file
- Brisbane commercial property loan FAQs
- Guides to read before you sign in Queensland
Brisbane enters spring 2026 with the two figures a commercial lender reads first pointing the same way: the Property Council of Australia’s Office Market Report of 6 August puts CBD office vacancy at 10.2 per cent, the lowest of any capital city CBD, and Cushman & Wakefield’s Q2 2026 Brisbane industrial report has vacancy at 3.5 per cent. Queensland taxes the purchase on its own terms: duty at $5.75 per $100 above $1 million, a registry fee that climbs with the price, and land tax from $600,000 for individuals and $350,000 for companies, trustees and super funds. Former major bank lenders in South Yarra wrote it and run Brisbane files by video across more than 40 lenders.
The Brisbane answer: a commercial property loan here is sized on what you buy before who you are. Indicative ceilings on our national pages run to 80 per cent of the lender’s valuation for a standard warehouse you will occupy, 65 to 75 per cent for an office or shop, 60 to 70 per cent for a leased investment and 65 to 75 per cent inside a super fund. On a $1.5 million Wacol warehouse, Queensland duty is $66,775, the Titles Queensland transfer fee is $6,393.96, and a taxable sale adds $150,000 of GST to fund until the next activity statement; the lender funds none of it.
What a credit desk does with Brisbane’s 2032 growth story
The Queensland Government’s Department of Sport, Racing and Olympic and Paralympic Games has published its 2032 Delivery Plan as the roadmap to an Olympics the official Brisbane 2032 site dates from 23 July to 8 August 2032, and Cushman & Wakefield says the stimulus tied to 2032 is driving enquiry from infrastructure and building-related occupiers, with Brisbane taking 37 per cent of the country’s net industrial absorption over twelve months from 16 per cent of the stock.
What a lender does with it on the day it sets your loan to value ratio is nothing. The ceiling comes from the asset class: on our deposit and LVR guide the ladder runs from standard warehouses, offices and shops at the top, through specialised assets such as medical rooms and childcare centres, down to SMSF and lease doc structures. The valuation is today’s, ordered by the lender, and the loan is written against that figure rather than anyone’s forecast; a growth story is never security.
Where it does count is in two places a former banker looks. In the comparable sales: the Property Council has Brisbane industrial land values up 44 per cent in twelve months, so a shed bought three years ago often sits at a lower LVR than its loan was priced on. And in the exit: a 2026 supply pipeline of just over 300,000 square metres, the lowest since 2018, is the scarcity a credit desk wants when it asks how quickly the bank could sell the building, the question our commercial property loans guide explains comes before serviceability.
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Queensland transfer duty, registration fees and GST at Brisbane commercial prices
Queensland charges duty on commercial property at the general schedule, with no concession. The Queensland Revenue Office schedule, updated 25 June 2026, is nil to $5,000, $1.50 for each $100 or part to $75,000, $1,050 plus $3.50 per $100 to $540,000, $17,325 plus $4.50 per $100 to $1,000,000, and $38,025 plus $5.75 per $100 above $1 million. Additional foreign acquirer duty of 8 per cent applies to residential land only, so a foreign buyer of an Eagle Farm warehouse pays the general rate. Mortgage duty was abolished on 1 July 2008.
Two settlement costs are particular to Queensland. The Titles Queensland schedule for 2026 to 2027 lists $248.04 to lodge a transfer of one lot plus $46.56 for each $10,000 or part by which the consideration exceeds $180,000, so the registration fee scales with the price, and $248.04 to lodge the lender’s mortgage. Then GST: a registered vendor’s sale of commercial premises is taxable, and a registered buyer claims it back in the activity statement for the period in which settlement occurs. The table shows the cash needed beyond the deposit.
| Purchase price (excluding GST) | Queensland transfer duty | Duty as a share of price | Titles Queensland transfer lodgement fee | GST if the sale is taxable | Cash beyond the deposit |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| $600,000 (strata office suite, Spring Hill) | $20,025 | 3.34% | $2,203.56 | $60,000 | $82,228.56 |
| $850,000 (consulting suite near a hospital) | $31,275 | 3.68% | $3,367.56 | $85,000 | $119,642.56 |
| $1,000,000 (top of the $4.50 band) | $38,025 | 3.80% | $4,065.96 | $100,000 | $142,090.96 |
| $1,500,000 (warehouse unit, Wacol or Acacia Ridge) | $66,775 | 4.45% | $6,393.96 | $150,000 | $223,168.96 |
| $2,200,000 (freestanding shed, Crestmead) | $107,025 | 4.86% | $9,653.16 | $220,000 | $336,678.16 |
| $3,500,000 (leased strip retail, inner north) | $181,775 | 5.19% | $15,705.96 | $350,000 | $547,480.96 |
| $6,000,000 (Trade Coast logistics facility) | $325,525 | 5.43% | $27,345.96 | $600,000 | $952,870.96 |
Duty from the Queensland Revenue Office transfer duty rates, no concession and no additional foreign acquirer duty, which applies to residential land only. Transfer lodgement fee from the Titles Queensland FY2026/27 schedule, Land Title Act 1994 items 2(a) and 3, one lot; the $248.04 mortgage lodgement fee sits on top. GST is 10 per cent of the price where the sale is a taxable supply and is recovered by a registered buyer through the activity statement, so it is timing rather than cost, but it must be funded on the day.
GST has two exits. The ATO’s going concern rules make the sale GST-free when it is for payment, the buyer is registered or required to be, both parties have agreed in writing, and the vendor carries the enterprise on until the day of sale: a tenanted building sold with its leases qualifies, an empty one does not. Under the margin scheme the buyer gets no credit. Your accountant settles which applies before signing; on the $2.2 million shed in the table it is $220,000 on the day.
Queensland land tax: two thresholds and a 3 per cent surcharge
Queensland assesses land tax on the total taxable value of all the freehold land you own at midnight on 30 June, and the taxable value of each parcel is the lesser of the Valuer-General’s statutory value and the three-year average, under guidance the Queensland Revenue Office updated on 17 August 2026. An individual, an Australian citizen, permanent visa holder or someone who usually lives in Australia, pays nothing until the total reaches $600,000, then $500 plus 1 cent for each dollar above it, stepping to $4,500 plus 1.65 cents above $1 million. A company or trustee, including the trustee of a superannuation fund, meets the tax at $350,000, at $1,450 plus 1.7 cents for each dollar above it.
The surcharge is the part interstate buyers miss. A foreign company, or a trust in which foreign persons hold at least half the interests, pays a further 3 per cent of the taxable value above $350,000, and an absentee, a foreign individual without a permanent visa who does not usually live in Australia, pays the same 3 per cent. Australian citizens and permanent visa holders are not absentees wherever they live. From 30 June 2026 a foreign entity that makes a significant contribution to the Queensland economy can seek an exemption, which the Property Council’s 3 September release asks the state to widen.
| Taxable land value at 30 June | Individual | Company, trustee or SMSF trustee | Foreign company or trust, or absentee individual (3% surcharge) |
|---|---|---|---|
| $500,000 | Nil | $4,000 | $8,500 |
| $760,000 (the Revenue Office’s SMSF example) | $2,100 | $8,420 | $20,720 |
| $1,000,000 | $4,500 | $12,500 | $32,000 |
| $1,500,000 | $12,750 | $21,000 | $55,500 |
| $2,500,000 | $29,250 | $37,500 | $102,000 |
| $4,000,000 | $50,000 | $60,000 | $169,500 |
Computed from the Queensland Revenue Office threshold and rate pages for individuals, companies and trusts, absentees, and foreign companies and trusts. Absentee and company rates are identical below $5 million and diverge above it. Land held by a trustee is assessed on its own, without the trustee’s personally owned land, unless several trusts share the same beneficiaries. No exemptions applied.
A lender’s serviceability calculator carries no land tax line, so we add it ourselves: on $1 million of land a company pays $12,500 a year and an individual $4,500, and the three-year averaging spreads a jump in land values over three bills rather than one.
Brisbane first-year holding cost estimator: duty, registration, land tax and interest
The two tables answer separate questions; a buyer needs them added together. Enter the price, the land value from the rates notice, the owner type, the deposit, the rate you have been quoted in writing and the GST position, and the estimator returns the duty, the Titles Queensland fees, the GST to fund, the cash at settlement, the loan, and the first year of interest and land tax.
Assumptions, all labelled: duty is the Queensland Revenue Office general transfer duty schedule updated 25 June 2026, with no concession and no additional foreign acquirer duty, which applies to residential land only. Titles Queensland fees are the FY2026/27 Land Title Act amounts for one lot: $248.04 to lodge the transfer plus $46.56 for each $10,000 or part above $180,000 of consideration, and $248.04 to lodge the mortgage. GST is 10 per cent of the price where you select a taxable sale and is treated as recoverable on the activity statement for the period that includes settlement if you are registered. Interest is the loan multiplied by the rate you type, as if the facility were interest only for twelve months at a constant rate; principal and interest repayments need more cash but carry less interest. Land tax applies the Revenue Office thresholds and rates for the owner type you select to the land value you enter as if it were the taxable value, assumes it is the only Queensland land held in that name, ignores exemptions and the three-year averaging, and treats an SMSF trustee as a company or trustee. Legal, valuation and lender fees, insurance, rates, outgoings and rent are excluded. Arithmetic on published schedules; not a quote and not credit advice.
Industrial: TradeCoast, the south and west, and yards that are 96.87 per cent full
Cushman & Wakefield’s Brisbane Logistics and Industrial MarketBeat for Q2 2026 reads the market in five submarkets, and a Brisbane credit desk reads it the same way. Total vacancy fell to 3.5 per cent from 3.9 per cent in the first quarter. The West, Wacol and Richlands along the Ipswich Motorway, is at 3.0 per cent, its lowest since late 2024. The South, Heathwood through Acacia Ridge to Crestmead, is at 3.6 per cent. The Trade Coast, Eagle Farm, Hemmant, Lytton and Murarrie around the port and the airport, is at 4.1 per cent. The North, Northgate and Banyo, rose to 4.7 per cent on backfill space, and the M1 Corridor at Yatala sits at 0.9 per cent.
The figures behind the vacancy rate are the ones that reach your loan: prime rents average $189 a square metre, and land in one to five hectare lots averages $722 a square metre with Eagle Farm above $1,000. On 3 September the Property Council and SA1 Property added the land picture: around 205 hectares absorbed each year across Greater Brisbane over the next five years, industrial outdoor storage 96.87 per cent utilised, some key precincts down to three and a half years of supply, and land values up 44 per cent in twelve months.
In short: a standard warehouse in any of the five submarkets is the security a Brisbane lender approves fastest, and an owner-occupier with clean financials who will occupy at least 51 per cent of the floor space can reach the top of the range, indicatively 80 per cent of the valuation. What the scarcity does not do is lift that ceiling: the valuer prices the building as it stands, so a secondary shed built before 2010 with lower clearances is valued as secondary stock, and a lease at an old rent is valued on the old rent until it is reviewed.
Office, medical and childcare: three Brisbane files, three different reads
Office: the lowest CBD vacancy in the country, and a fringe emptying into it. The Property Council’s release of 6 August 2026 has Brisbane CBD vacancy at 10.2 per cent in July, down 1.6 percentage points since January, while the national CBD rate rose to 14.9 per cent and the Brisbane fringe rose to 11.6 per cent. To a lender an office is still an office: 65 to 75 per cent of valuation on our national pages, read on the lease before the address. A long lease to a national tenant is lent on ordinary terms; a Valley floor with a short lease gets a lower ceiling, a shorter term and sometimes a request for a second security.
Medical: hospital precincts and a specialised rung. Brisbane’s consulting suite markets sit around its hospitals at Herston, Woolloongabba, South Brisbane, Greenslopes and Chermside. Medical and dental rooms are a specialised asset because their value is tied to the practice inside them, so the ceiling is set file by file; a suite occupied by an established practice, or owned by the practitioners’ super fund and leased back at market rent, is a file most of our panel will write.
Childcare: the asset that separates lenders most. The same borrower with the same deposit can be approved on a warehouse and declined on a childcare centre, because a centre’s value falls with its operator. Lenders that write them read the operator’s lease closely and cap the LVR below a standard asset; knowing which of them has appetite this quarter is most of the job.
Buying Brisbane business premises through an SMSF after 10 August 2026
The Treasury Laws Amendment (Tax Reform No. 1) Act 2026, which received Royal Assent on 26 June 2026, restricts new self managed super fund borrowing to business real property from 10 August 2026 under section 67A(2)(c) of the SIS Act, which the ATO defines as land and buildings used wholly and exclusively in a business. A Crestmead warehouse or a Herston consulting suite still qualifies, and the fund can lease it to the members’ own business at market rent. The full rules are in our SMSF commercial property loans guide and the 10 August explainer.
The lending is specialist. No Big Four bank writes new SMSF loans; the specialist lenders on our panel cap the loan at an indicative 65 to 75 per cent of valuation, most want a fund balance in the region of $200,000 to $300,000 with cash left after settlement, and serviceability is assessed at fund level on rent plus contributions. In Queensland the fund pays duty at the general rate and its trustee pays land tax at the $350,000 company and trustee threshold on the fund’s land alone, so a suite on $180,000 of land pays nothing and a shed on $760,000 pays $8,420. The holding trust must exist before the contract is signed. Whether the fund should own the premises is advice for a licensed financial adviser; our super property walkthrough shows where the loan fits, and an existing SMSF loan can still move lender dollar for dollar under our SMSF loan refinance guide.
Refinancing or releasing equity on a Brisbane commercial loan
A Brisbane commercial loan settled in 2022 or 2023 was priced against that year’s valuation. With industrial land values up 44 per cent in a year and three years of principal repaid, the loan is often a band lower in LVR than its margin assumes, and our rates guide puts each 10 per cent step down in LVR at roughly 0.25 to 0.75 per cent a year. For balances under $1.5 million, at least one major bank currently offers a streamlined refinance on one year of clean repayment history and a self-declared statement of position instead of full financials; offers change and criteria apply.
Queensland keeps the government side of a switch small: no mortgage duty since 1 July 2008, and Titles Queensland lodges the release of the old mortgage and the new mortgage at $248.04 each. The lender fees, discharge, any break cost on a fixed rate, establishment, valuation and legal, are itemised in our refinancing costs guide. Ask your current bank to reprice first, with a competing assessment in hand, as the same bank versus switching guide sets out; the commercial refinance calculator finds the break-even month and the commercial refinance guide runs the process.
Equity release, with a Queensland catch. The gap between what the shed is worth and what is owed on it can be borrowed, by rewriting the loan at a larger amount or adding a facility beside it, against a current valuation and provided the income carries the larger balance; the equity release guide and the business loan refinance savings calculator cover both routes. The catch is that the land value rise that releases the equity also lifts the land tax, so that line goes into the serviceability first.
Brisbane’s precincts through our suburb pages
Our suburb pages are written for home buyers, and they map the precincts commercial files come from.
- New Farm, 1.7 kilometres from the GPO: the cafes along Brunswick Street and James Street, and consulting rooms on the peninsula.
- Teneriffe: the converted woolstores on Macquarie Street and Vernon Terrace carry offices as well as apartments, with the Gasworks precinct next door.
- Wilston: the village strip around Kedron Brook Road, premises toward Lutwyche, and the Herston hospital precinct a short drive south.
- Alderley and Everton Park: the South Pine Road shops and offices, Everton Plaza and the Brookside centre, with the Stafford industrial pocket nearby.
- Wynnum, 14 kilometres east on Moreton Bay: the foreshore shops, with the Lytton and Hemmant sheds and the Port of Brisbane to the north.
Home lending in the same suburbs is on our Brisbane mortgage broker page, every suburb we cover is on the locations page, and business owners in the other eastern capitals have their own Melbourne commercial property loans page and Sydney commercial property loans page.
Perth has its own guide too: commercial property finance Perth, covering WA duty on the GST-inclusive price, land tax and MRIT, and a five-year holding cost projector.
Expat, interstate and foreign buyers, and how a South Yarra former banker runs a Brisbane file
Queensland treats an Australian living overseas better than most expats expect. Additional foreign acquirer duty is confined to residential land, so a Singapore-based citizen or a foreign company buying a Brisbane warehouse pays the general duty rate. For land tax, Australian citizens and permanent visa holders are never absentees, so an Australian in Dubai holding a Brisbane shed in their own name is assessed as an individual with the $600,000 threshold and no surcharge; absentees and foreign companies or trusts pay the 3 per cent surcharge above $350,000 unless exempt.
The lending is where distance costs. Foreign income is shaded: most lenders count about 70 per cent of it after conversion, around 80 per cent in preferred currencies, which our expat home loans guide sets out. On a leased asset the rent can carry the file instead, at 60 to 70 per cent of valuation. No trip to Melbourne or Brisbane is needed: the identity check runs by video or through Australia Post, signing is electronic and PEXA handles settlement.
That is how every Brisbane file runs. Everstone Finance works from 35 Malcolm Street, South Yarra, and was founded by Ahmed Lotfi and Zappelin Heng, former major bank lenders. The file goes to more than 40 bank and non-bank lenders with one question attached: which of them wants a Brisbane warehouse, suite or shopfront this quarter, and at what LVR. Files run in English, Arabic or French. The lender pays us on settlement; where a fee applies on a specialist commercial file it is disclosed in writing first, as our guide to what a broker costs explains, and the online broker page describes the process. Everstone Finance Pty Ltd operates under the Best Interests Duty.
Book a free Brisbane commercial loan appointment by video with a former banker
The people behind Everstone
Commercial finance is one of the largest decisions a business owner or investor makes. Here is who will actually be working on your file.
Ahmed Lotfi
A former major bank lender who now works entirely for you. Ahmed runs the file personally: security, structure, lender selection and the negotiation with the commercial credit desk. English, Arabic and French.
Zappelin Heng
Co-founder with deep lender experience, focused on getting complex and self-employed files assessed on their real strength, not a tick-box, including business owners and investors with multiple securities.
Brisbane commercial property loan FAQs
How much is Queensland transfer duty on a $1.5 million warehouse in Brisbane?
$66,775 at the Queensland Revenue Office general rates, $38,025 plus $5.75 for each $100 above $1 million, with no concession on commercial property. Titles Queensland adds $6,393.96 to lodge the transfer and $248.04 for the mortgage, and a taxable sale means $150,000 of GST funded at settlement and claimed back on the next activity statement.
Does my SMSF pay Queensland land tax on a Brisbane commercial property?
Yes, once the fund’s taxable land value reaches $350,000, because the Revenue Office assesses the trustee of a superannuation fund at the company and trustee rates of $1,450 plus 1.7 cents for each dollar above $350,000. Its own example is a fund on $760,000 of land paying $8,420 a year, assessed on the fund’s land alone.
Is Brisbane’s CBD office vacancy really the lowest in Australia, and does it change what a lender offers?
Yes. The Property Council of Australia’s Office Market Report released on 6 August 2026 has Brisbane CBD vacancy at 10.2 per cent in July, the lowest CBD figure in the country, against a national rate of 14.9 per cent. Lenders still fund an office at an indicative 65 to 75 per cent of valuation and read the lease before the market: a long lease to a strong tenant is written on ordinary terms, a short lease or an empty floor at a lower LVR and a shorter term.
I am an Australian citizen living overseas. Am I an absentee for Queensland land tax on a Brisbane shed?
No. In Queensland an absentee is a foreign individual who does not hold a permanent visa and does not usually live in Australia; Australian citizens and permanent visa holders are assessed as individuals wherever they live, with the $600,000 threshold and no surcharge. A foreign company, or a trust at least half foreign-owned, pays a 3 per cent surcharge above $350,000 unless exempt.
Is Brisbane running out of industrial land, and does that help my loan?
The Property Council and SA1 Property research of 3 September 2026 found around 205 hectares of industrial land absorbed each year across Greater Brisbane, industrial outdoor storage 96.87 per cent utilised and some precincts holding three and a half years of supply. That strengthens the valuation evidence and the exit; it does not lift the LVR ceiling, indicatively 80 per cent of valuation for an owner-occupied standard warehouse.
What does it cost to refinance a commercial loan in Queensland?
The state charges no mortgage duty, abolished on 1 July 2008, and Titles Queensland lists $248.04 to lodge the release of the old mortgage and $248.04 for the new one. The rest comes from the lenders: a discharge fee, a break cost if your rate is fixed, and the new lender’s establishment, valuation and legal fees. Divide the total by the monthly saving for the months to break even.
Guides to read before you sign in Queensland
- Commercial property loan deposit and LVR: the asset ladder, shed above surgery.
- Commercial property loan rates: what each 10 per cent of LVR is worth.
- SMSF commercial property loans: what a fund can still borrow for after 10 August 2026.
- Refinancing a commercial property loan: the streamlined pathway under $1.5 million.
- Commercial property equity release: the valuation ceiling and the income limit.
- Business loan refinance savings calculator: moving an overdraft onto property-secured pricing.