Commercial Property Loan Rates in Australia (2026): What You Will Actually Pay

Commercial Property Loan Rates in Australia (2026): What You Will Actually Pay

No lender advertises a carded commercial rate. These are the indicative 2026 ranges, and the levers that decide where your deal lands inside them.

Try to google a commercial property loan rate and you hit a wall that does not exist with home loans: nobody advertises one. Commercial lending is priced deal by deal, so the honest answer to “what will I pay” is a range plus the list of things that decide where you land in it. This guide gives you both. The ranges below are indicative, drawn from what we see pricing across bank and non-bank lenders in 2026, and they are subject to change. This is general information, not credit assistance, and lender criteria apply. If you are buying, start with our commercial property loans guide. If you already hold a commercial loan, the numbers here are the benchmark to review your rate against.

Low doc pricing sits above the full doc figures on this page, and the lenders say why: the rate depends on the loan-to-value ratio and the verification supplied. On 11 September 2026 the published starting rates were 7.89 per cent p.a. for La Trobe Financial Lease Doc, 8.00 per cent for Liberty Low Doc Commercial, 8.29 per cent for La Trobe Financial Lite Doc and 9.80 per cent for Liberty Short Term Commercial with no financials required. Our low doc and no doc commercial loans guide sets those rates beside each lender’s fees, loan-to-value caps and the documents that replace tax returns.

What Are Commercial Property Loan Rates in 2026?

Two things stand out in that table. First, the spread inside commercial lending is enormous compared with home loans: the gap between a strong bank deal and a specialist facility can be several full percentage points on the same building. Second, the profile of the deal matters more than the identity of the borrower. The same investor can be quoted at both ends of the market depending on LVR, lease and documentation. That spread is exactly why pricing your specific deal beats reading any table, including this one. To see where yours lands, have your deal priced, free.

Published commercial property loan rates (as read in September and October 2026)

Read those three sources together and the shape of the market appears. A bank-grade loan of $1 million or more against standard commercial property with full financials prices around 7.25 per cent at the bank in the table above. A specialist full-doc facility sits near 7.9 per cent, with a larger application fee. And the indicator rate the major banks start from is 9.00 per cent, which is why a bank quote for a commercial loan is really a quote for the discount off that rate. The lowest figures in the indicative ranges above are what a strong owner-occupier file can negotiate below the published numbers, not a rate any lender advertises.

Two cautions. Published commercial rates change without notice; the bank’s figures were re-read on 17 October 2026, after lenders passed on the 29 September 2026 cash rate rise, while the Reserve Bank and La Trobe Financial figures were read before that rise, so treat every number here as a marker of where the market was, not a quote. And the rate is only one of three prices on a commercial loan: the establishment or application fee, which La Trobe expresses as a percentage of the loan, and the valuation and legal costs, decide the true cost of a facility as much as the headline rate does. The comparison section below shows how to weigh all three.

How Lenders Actually Set a Commercial Rate

Under the hood, every commercial lender starts from what the money costs them, which tracks the cash rate and wholesale funding markets, and then adds a margin for the risk of your specific deal. The RBA lifted the cash rate to 4.60% on 29 September 2026, which anchors the funding side. The margin side is where your file lives.

Commercial credit teams grade a deal the way an underwriter grades an insurance risk. A city-fringe office with a seven year lease to a national tenant, held at 55% LVR by a borrower with two clean years of financials, scores well and prices near the bottom of the range. A regional pub at 70% LVR with a short lease and one messy year scores poorly and prices near the top, if the bank takes it at all. Nothing about that is personal. It is a scoring exercise, and once you know the scorecard you can play to it.

This is also why quotes differ so much between lenders for the same deal. Each lender weights the scorecard differently: one bank is hungry for industrial property this year, another has too much of it on the book and prices it away. A broker sees those appetites across the whole panel; a borrower walking into one branch sees exactly one. For an industrial purchase or refinance specifically, see our guide to warehouse, factory and industrial property loans.

The Five Levers That Move Your Rate

1. Loan to value ratio. The headline lever. Every 10% lower in LVR can save roughly 0.25% to 0.75% p.a., because the lender’s downside shrinks as your equity grows. This cuts both ways: a property that has revalued upward since you borrowed has quietly lowered your real LVR, and you may be paying a rate set for a riskier loan than the one you now have.

2. Security type. Standard office, retail and industrial property price best. Specialised assets such as pubs, childcare centres, medical suites and accommodation carry higher margins and lower maximum LVRs, because fewer buyers exist if the lender ever has to sell. Vacant commercial or industrial land has no building and no rent, so it is priced on its own terms: see our guide to commercial land loans.

3. Lease strength. For investment property, the lease is the income. A long lease to a strong tenant reads almost like a bond and prices accordingly. Short leases, vacancies and single struggling tenants push the margin up. Owner-occupiers are read through their trading financials instead.

4. Documentation level. Full financials get the sharpest pricing. Lease doc loans, assessed on the property’s rental income, and low doc loans, verified through an accountant’s letter or recent BAS, trade convenience for margin. The gap between full doc and low doc pricing on the same deal is real money, so the right question is whether the paperwork saving is worth it.

5. Conduct and story. One year of clean repayment history on your existing facility is worth actual basis points, and on some streamlined refinance pathways it substitutes for the financials entirely. Arrears, ATO debt and messy statements move you the other way. Lenders lend to files, and a well-presented file with the risks explained up front prices better than the same numbers arriving raw.

Fixed or Variable for a Commercial Loan?

The mechanics mirror home lending: a fixed rate locks your repayments for the term, a variable rate moves with the market, and a split does both. The commercial twist is in the exit. Break costs on commercial fixed rates are calculated on the lender’s wholesale position and can be substantial, so a fixed term that outlives your actual plans for the property is an expensive mistake. If a sale, a development or a refinance is plausible inside three years, that belongs in the structure conversation before the rate conversation.

We do not forecast rates, and we would treat anyone who confidently does with suspicion. What we can do is match the structure to your plans: how long you intend to hold, how much certainty your cash flow needs, and what an exit would cost under each option. That conversation is quick and it is the one that prevents the expensive version of hindsight.

How to Compare Rates When Nothing Is Advertised

With home loans you can line up advertised rates in an afternoon. With commercial loans the comparison only exists once lenders have priced your deal, and pricing it at one lender at a time is slow enough that most owners stop after one or two quotes, which is precisely what incumbent lenders count on.

When quotes do land, compare the whole cost of the facility, not the headline. Commercial pricing hides in fees: establishment fees, line fees on the limit rather than the balance, annual review fees, and valuation costs that recur. A loan quoted 0.2% cheaper can be dearer once the fee stack is counted. We put every quote on the same all-in basis before recommending anything.

How to Get a Lower Commercial Rate

Everything in the levers section runs in reverse. If your property has revalued since you borrowed, a fresh valuation can drop your real LVR a band and earn back roughly 0.25% to 0.75% p.a. per 10%. If a lease renewal is close, signing it before you price the deal changes how every lender reads the file. If you started on a low doc loan and now have two clean years of financials, you have outgrown the margin you are paying.

And if your rate was simply set in a different market, the test is a refinance. Our commercial refinance guide covers the full process, including the streamlined pathway for loans under $1.5 million built on one year of clean repayment history and a self-declared statement of position instead of full financials. The costs guide itemises what switching involves, and if the goal is capital rather than a cheaper rate, the equity release guide covers that path. Sometimes the answer is repricing with your own bank; we run that comparison honestly because we win either way only if you do.

What About SMSF Commercial Loan Rates?

Loans inside a self managed super fund are limited recourse borrowing arrangements: if the loan fails, the lender can only claim the property itself, not the rest of the fund. Lenders price that restriction, and the smaller panel of SMSF lenders means less competition on top. The result is pricing above an equivalent standard commercial deal, usually by a meaningful margin. The rules also moved in 2026, which changed who can lend and on what terms. Our SMSF commercial property loans guide covers the new landscape, including the business-premises pathway that lets your fund own the building your company trades from.

How Everstone Helps

Ahmed Lotfi and Zappelin Heng spent their careers inside the banks before founding Everstone, sitting on the side of the table where commercial deals are graded and priced. That is the background we bring to yours: we know what the scorecard rewards, how to present a file so it grades to its ceiling, and which lender is hungriest for your kind of deal this quarter.

The process is simple. You bring the property, the loan and whatever financials you have. We price the deal across the panel, translate the quotes onto one all-in basis, and tell you plainly what you should be paying. If that number is below your current rate, we handle the refinance end to end. If you are buying, we structure the deal before you sign so the rate conversation starts from strength. And because the lender pays us on settlement, the pricing exercise costs you nothing.

Commercial Rates FAQs

What commercial property loan rates are actually published in Australia?

Only a few. The Reserve Bank publishes indicator lending rates: in August 2026 the small business variable term indicator rate at the major banks was 9.00 per cent p.a. and the overdraft rate 10.76 per cent, before negotiated discounts. One bank, ING, publishes commercial variable rates for new borrowings secured by commercial property in two size bands, last updated 12 October 2026 and checked 17 October 2026: 7.24 per cent p.a. for the $1 million to $8 million band and 7.69 per cent for the $500,000 to under $1 million band, principal and interest or interest only, the same rate across LVRs. La Trobe Financial published a full-doc commercial variable rate of 7.89 per cent p.a. as at 11 September 2026. The Reserve Bank and La Trobe Financial figures were read before the cash rate rose on 29 September 2026; the bank’s figures were re-read after lenders passed that rise on. Most other lenders price each commercial loan individually and do not advertise a rate card.

What is the average commercial property loan rate in Australia?

There is no single average because commercial loans are priced deal by deal. Indicative 2026 commercial property loan rates run from around 6.25% p.a. for owner-occupiers with strong financials, up into the 9% to 10%+ range for investors and lower-doc deals. Standard bank products sit roughly 6.5% to 9.5% p.a. and non-bank or specialist lenders roughly 7.5% to 14% p.a. These ranges are indicative, vary by deal and are subject to change.

Why are commercial property loan rates higher than home loan rates?

Commercial property is treated as higher risk. Values move with business conditions and lease income, tenants can leave, and the loans sit outside the consumer credit protections that apply to home loans. Lenders price that risk into the margin, and they also grade each deal individually on LVR, security type, lease strength and the financials behind it. A strong deal lands near the bottom of the range and a riskier one near the top.

Do banks advertise commercial property loan rates?

Generally no. Home loans have carded, advertised rates, but commercial lending is priced individually, so the rate you see quoted anywhere is indicative at best. The practical way to find your rate is to have the deal priced: the property, the LVR, the lease and the financials. A broker can run that pricing across many bank and non-bank lenders at once rather than one at a time.

How does LVR change my commercial loan rate?

Loan to value ratio is the single biggest driver of commercial pricing. Every 10% lower in LVR can save roughly 0.25% to 0.75% p.a. That is why a property that has revalued upward since you borrowed can earn you a sharper rate on the same loan, and why a larger deposit buys a cheaper loan, not just a smaller one.

What deposit do I need for a commercial property loan?

Commonly around 20% to 35% of the purchase price, because most commercial lending sits at 65% to 80% LVR depending on the property type and the strength of the deal. Owner-occupiers buying standard property tend to reach the higher LVRs, while specialised assets are capped lower. Our commercial property loans guide covers deposits and LVR bands in detail.

Are SMSF commercial property loan rates higher?

Usually yes. Loans to a self managed super fund are limited recourse, which restricts what the lender can claim if things go wrong, and fewer lenders offer them. Both push pricing above a standard commercial loan for the same property. The rules around SMSF property lending also changed in 2026, so the structure needs to be right before the rate matters.

Can I get a lower commercial rate by refinancing?

Often, yes. If your rate was set when your LVR was higher, your lease was shorter or your financials were weaker, the market may price you better today. For commercial loans under $1.5 million, at least one major bank was offering, as at September 2026, a streamlined refinance that asks for one year of clean repayment history and a self-declared statement of position rather than full financials. Offers change and criteria apply.

How do I find out the actual rate for my deal?

Have it priced. We take your property, loan size, lease and financials, and test the deal across a wide panel of bank and non-bank commercial lenders. You get the real number for your file, not a range from an article. The review is free to you because the lender pays us when a loan settles.

Commercial loan rates beyond property: how the other facilities are priced

Searches for commercial loan rates usually mean more than property. A business typically carries several facility types at once, and each is priced on a different logic, which is why a single rate quote rarely answers the question.

Property secured commercial loans sit at the bottom of the commercial pricing ladder, because the lender holds a registered mortgage over an asset it can value and sell. Everything above on this page applies. Equipment and asset finance is priced on the asset’s resale profile and age: new, standard, easily resold equipment prices closest to property secured lending, while specialised or older assets carry a premium. Overdrafts and working capital lines price above term debt because they are revolving and undrawn limits still consume the lender’s capital. Unsecured business loans sit highest of the bank facilities, since the lender has nothing to sell if things go wrong, and the fast fintech end of that market prices highest of all; our unsecured business loans guide sets out that market. Invoice and trade finance is priced as a fee against the receivable rather than a headline rate, which makes it look cheaper or dearer than it is depending on how quickly customers pay.

Two practical consequences. First, when a business holds several facilities, the biggest saving is usually in restructuring the mix, for example moving expensive unsecured or fintech debt onto a property secured facility, rather than shaving the rate on any one loan; our guide to refinancing a business loan walks through that restructure. Second, the rate quoted for any facility moves with the same levers as property lending: security, loan to value, the strength of the financials and the lender’s appetite for your industry that quarter. Rates on this page are indicative as at their stated date and change without notice; the number that matters is the one negotiated on your file.

LVR is the biggest lever after security itself; our guide to commercial property deposits and LVR shows how the deposit decision and the rate decision are the same decision.

Related guides

Sources and important information