Commercial Property Loans Melbourne: Former Bankers for Warehouses, Medical Suites and Shopfronts in the City That Is Phasing Out Commercial Stamp Duty
- Melbourne’s commercial market in 2026, as a credit desk reads it
- Victorian duty and the CIPT reform
- Land tax on Melbourne commercial property
- GST at settlement
- Buy or keep leasing: the calculator
- Melbourne’s business precincts through our suburb pages
- SMSF purchases after 10 August 2026
- Refinancing and equity release
- Interstate and expat buyers
- A commercial broker whose home city is Melbourne
- Melbourne commercial property loan FAQs
- Guides worth reading before you sign
Melbourne is the one capital where a commercial buyer weighs three state taxes at once: land transfer duty at the general rate on the full price, land tax from a $50,000 site value, and the Commercial and Industrial Property Tax that replaces duty ten years after a property’s first sale since 1 July 2024. It also has the country’s highest CBD office vacancy, 18.9 per cent on the Property Council’s July 2026 Office Market Report. This guide is written by former major-bank lenders in South Yarra who price Melbourne commercial property across more than 40 lenders.
Straight answer: a commercial property loan in Melbourne is priced on the asset first and the borrower second. An owner-occupier buying a standard warehouse can reach 80 per cent of the lender’s valuation, an office or shopfront usually 65 to 75 per cent, a leased investment 60 to 70 per cent and an SMSF purchase around 65 to 75 per cent, all indicative. On a $1.2 million industrial unit Victorian duty is $66,000, and if this is the property’s first sale since 1 July 2024 it enters the CIPT reform: duty this once, usually none for the next buyer, and from the eleventh year 1 per cent of site value a year. Everstone Finance is run by former bankers at 35 Malcolm Street, South Yarra, and is paid by the lender on settlement.
Melbourne’s commercial market in 2026, as a credit desk reads it
Office: the highest vacancy in the country, with two markets inside it. The Property Council of Australia’s Office Market Report for the six months to July 2026, released on 6 August, has Melbourne CBD vacancy at 18.9 per cent, down from 19 per cent, against 13.3 per cent in Sydney and 10.2 per cent in Brisbane. A refurbished Collins Street suite or a Cremorne floor with a national tenant on a long lease is funded in the standard band. An older B-grade floor in Docklands or on St Kilda Road with a short lease gets a lower LVR, a shorter term and a request for extra security. Buying in Adelaide instead? South Australia charges no duty on qualifying land, so the entry cost question changes shape entirely: see commercial property loans in Adelaide.
Industrial: the asset lenders most want to fund, in three belts. Truganina, Derrimut, Laverton North and Altona in the west; Epping, Somerton, Campbellfield and Craigieburn up the Hume corridor in the north; Dandenong South, Keysborough and Cranbourne West in the south east. We could not verify an industrial vacancy figure from a named report today, but a standard warehouse or factory unit in any of these belts is the security a Melbourne credit desk approves fastest, and where an owner-occupier with clean financials reaches the top of the LVR range.
Retail: strips, not centres. Melbourne’s retail files are shopfronts on Chapel Street, Bridge Road, Swan Street, Sydney Road, Glenferrie Road, Lygon Street or High Street in Thornbury. Lenders treat strip retail as a standard asset at 65 to 75 per cent but read the lease and the strip hard, and a shop with a hospitality tenant on a five-year lease prices differently from a vacant shell.
Medical: two precincts and a lot of suburban suites. The Parkville hospital and university precinct and the Heidelberg precinct around the Austin anchor the consulting-suite markets. Medical rooms sit on the specialised rung of the lender ladder, so the LVR is set case by case, but a suite occupied by an established practice, or bought inside an SMSF and leased back to it, is a file most of our panel is comfortable with. The commercial property loans and deposit and LVR guides cover the products and the asset ladder.
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Victorian duty and the CIPT reform that removes it one sale at a time
Commercial buyers in Victoria pay land transfer duty at the general rate on the full dutiable value. The State Revenue Office schedule for contracts from 1 July 2021, updated 10 July 2026, runs 1.4 per cent to $25,000, $350 plus 2.4 per cent to $130,000, $2,870 plus 6 per cent of the excess to $960,000, a flat 5.5 per cent to $2 million, and $110,000 plus 6.5 per cent above $2 million.
| Purchase price | Victorian duty (general rate) | 20% deposit (industrial owner-occupier) | 30% deposit (office, retail, leased) | Deposit plus duty at 30% |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| $450,000 (small strata suite or shop) | $22,070 | $90,000 | $135,000 | $157,070 |
| $650,000 (suburban medical suite) | $34,070 | $130,000 | $195,000 | $229,070 |
| $800,000 (small warehouse unit) | $43,070 | $160,000 | $240,000 | $283,070 |
| $960,000 (top of the 6% band) | $52,670 | $192,000 | $288,000 | $340,670 |
| $1,200,000 (freestanding factory) | $66,000 | $240,000 | $360,000 | $426,000 |
| $1,500,000 (strip shop with upstairs office) | $82,500 | $300,000 | $450,000 | $532,500 |
| $2,000,000 (premium rate threshold) | $110,000 | $400,000 | $600,000 | $710,000 |
| $3,500,000 (mid-size logistics shed) | $207,500 | $700,000 | $1,050,000 | $1,257,500 |
| $5,000,000 (multi-tenant industrial estate) | $305,000 | $1,000,000 | $1,500,000 | $1,805,000 |
Duty from the SRO’s non-principal-place-of-residence schedule, contracts from 1 July 2021. Deposit columns use the indicative LVR bands on our national commercial pages; the lender sets the ceiling on its own valuation.
What the Commercial and Industrial Property Tax reform changes. Since 1 July 2024 Victoria has been replacing duty on commercial and industrial property with an annual tax, property by property rather than on a date. Under the SRO’s guidance a property with a qualifying use enters the reform through an entry transaction: a dutiable transaction under a contract signed on or after 1 July 2024, for an interest of 50 per cent or more, where duty is chargeable on at least 50 per cent of the property’s unencumbered value. The entry buyer pays duty in full, one last time. A later sale is normally exempt from duty while the property keeps a qualifying use. From the first calendar year after the ten-year transition the owner pays CIPT at a flat 1 per cent of site value every year. The SRO is explicit that CIPT is separate from land tax: both may apply.
Two practical points. The SRO notes that eligible purchasers may obtain a transition loan through the Treasury Corporation of Victoria to cover the duty on an entry transaction, on the Corporation’s own terms. And a property clearance certificate now shows qualifying use, entry date and CIPT status, so before you sign we can tell you whether you are the buyer who pays duty or the buyer who does not.
In short: a Melbourne commercial purchase in 2026 is either the last duty bill that building will ever generate or the first sale that generates none. On a $1.2 million factory that is $66,000 paid now by the entry buyer, against zero for a later buyer of the same shed and a CIPT bill from the eleventh year of roughly $7,000 a year on a $700,000 site value. Lenders do not lend against duty, so the entry buyer needs it in cash or through the transition loan.
Land tax on Melbourne commercial property
Commercial property gets no principal place of residence exemption, so land tax starts at a $50,000 site value and is assessed on the Valuer-General’s site value of all your taxable Victorian land at 31 December. The SRO’s 2024 to 2033 rates carry the COVID Debt Repayment Plan, a $500 or $975 flat surcharge and a 0.1 percentage point rate increase above $300,000, legislated to 30 June 2033. Trusts without nominated beneficiaries pay the trust surcharge rates and absentee owners a further 4 per cent of the total taxable value.
| Total taxable site value | General rate | Trust surcharge rate | General rate plus absentee owner surcharge | CIPT from the 11th year (1% of site value) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| $400,000 | $1,650 | $2,914 | $17,650 | $4,000 |
| $750,000 | $3,150 | $5,726 | $33,150 | $7,500 |
| $1,000,000 | $4,650 | $8,163 | $44,650 | $10,000 |
| $1,500,000 | $9,150 | $14,538 | $69,150 | $15,000 |
| $2,500,000 | $23,400 | $26,113 | $123,400 | $25,000 |
| $4,000,000 | $58,150 | $58,150 | $218,150 | $40,000 |
Computed from the SRO’s 2024 to 2033 general and trust surcharge schedules and the 4% absentee owner surcharge; land tax aggregates across all your Victorian land. The CIPT column applies only to property that has entered the reform, from the first calendar year after its 10-year transition, in addition to land tax.
The absentee owner surcharge does not apply to Australian citizens or permanent residents living overseas; it catches non-citizens absent from Australia on 31 December or for more than six months of the prior year, and entities controlled from overseas. A lender’s calculator sees none of this, so we add the correct land tax line to the outgoings before we run the numbers.
GST at settlement: going concern, margin scheme, cash on the day
The settlement-day cost most first-time commercial buyers miss is GST. Under the ATO’s guidance on GST and property, a sale of commercial premises by a GST-registered vendor is a taxable supply, so the price carries 10 per cent GST. A registered purchaser can generally claim it back in the activity statement for the period in which settlement occurs, but the lender does not fund it: on a $1.2 million factory that is $120,000 in the account at settlement and back on the next BAS.
Two structures change the answer. A sale of a going concern is GST-free if the sale is for payment, the purchaser is registered or required to be registered, the parties have agreed in writing that it is a going concern, and the vendor supplies everything necessary to keep the enterprise running until the day of sale. A property sold empty is not a going concern, so an owner-occupier buying a vacant warehouse usually pays the GST and claims it back, while an investor buying a leased shopfront can often settle GST-free. Under the margin scheme the purchaser can claim no credit. The treatment is your accountant’s call, made before the contract is signed.
Buy or keep leasing your Melbourne premises: the calculator
Business owners in the outer industrial belts ask one question: does buying the shed I rent cost more than the rent. Type the price, the rent you pay now, the deposit percentage your asset class supports, the rate you have been quoted, and the term; add the site value from the rates notice for the CIPT line. It computes Victorian duty, the cash you need on the day, first-year repayments and interest against your rent, and the rate at which buying costs the same cash as renting.
Assumptions, all labelled: duty is the SRO general land transfer duty schedule for contracts from 1 July 2021, no concession, no foreign purchaser additional duty (which does not apply to non-residential property). Repayments are principal and interest, monthly, at the rate you type, held constant; interest is the interest in the first 12 repayments. Rent is held flat and compared before tax. GST, legal and valuation costs, lender fees, land tax, rates, insurance and maintenance are excluded; on an owner-occupied purchase rent and interest are both ordinarily deductible, which your accountant should confirm. The CIPT line assumes this purchase is the entry transaction and shows the 1 per cent annual charge that would start in the first calendar year after the 10-year transition; nothing is payable in the first ten years. The break-even rate is the rate at which year-one repayments equal your rent on these inputs, not a rate we offer. Arithmetic, not credit advice.
Assumptions: duty is the SRO general schedule for contracts from 1 July 2021, no concession, no foreign purchaser additional duty. Repayments are principal and interest, monthly, at the rate you type, held constant; interest is the interest in the first 12 repayments. Rent is held flat and compared before tax. GST, purchase costs, land tax and outgoings are excluded. The CIPT line assumes this purchase is the entry transaction and shows the 1 per cent annual charge that would start in the first calendar year after the 10-year transition; nothing is payable in the first ten years. The break-even rate is the rate at which year-one repayments equal your rent on these inputs, not a rate we offer. Arithmetic, not credit advice.
Melbourne’s business precincts through our suburb pages
South Yarra, Prahran and Richmond keep a suburb page of their own; the other suburbs are covered on our Melbourne mortgage broker page, linked below. The commercial notes are ours.
- North industrial belt: Campbellfield, the Hume Highway corridor that once housed the Ford assembly plant; Coolaroo, on the M80 and the Tullamarine Freeway; and Gladstone Park, beside Melbourne Airport and the Tullamarine industrial precinct.
- South east: Noble Park, between the rebuilt station precinct and Dandenong South, where trades businesses buy the unit they have rented for a decade and allied health suites are an SMSF favourite.
- West: Maidstone, shops, offices and consulting suites around Hampstead Road and the Highpoint precinct, twenty minutes from the Derrimut and Laverton North sheds.
- Inner north strips: Thornbury, High Street’s hospitality run, and Coburg, the Sydney Road strip and the Pentridge precinct.
- Chapel Street: South Yarra, our own patch, and Prahran, Greville Street, Commercial Road and the market end.
- Cremorne, Bridge Road and Swan Street: Richmond, Melbourne’s creative and technology fringe: whole-floor offices in converted warehouses and consulting suites near Epworth Richmond.
Home loans in the same suburbs are on our Melbourne mortgage broker page and the locations page lists every suburb we cover.
SMSF purchases of Melbourne business premises after 10 August 2026
The most common SMSF file we see in Melbourne is a small one: a $600,000 to $1.2 million warehouse unit in Dandenong South, Campbellfield or Truganina, or a consulting suite in Heidelberg or Richmond, bought by the fund and leased back to the members’ business at market rent. Under the Treasury Laws Amendment (Tax Reform No. 1) Act 2026, which received Royal Assent on 26 June 2026, a self managed super fund can no longer establish a new limited recourse borrowing arrangement to buy residential property from 10 August 2026; new SMSF borrowing is confined to business real property, which the ATO defines as land and buildings used wholly and exclusively in a business. Full rules: our SMSF commercial property loans guide and 10 August ban explainer.
The market is specialist and the numbers are tighter. No Big Four bank writes new SMSF loans; the indicative maximum LVR from the specialist lenders on our panel sits around 65 to 75 per cent, most want a fund balance in the region of $200,000 to $300,000, and serviceability is assessed at fund level on the rent plus contributions. The fund pays the general duty rate, and if the suite or shed has not changed hands since 1 July 2024 the fund is the entry buyer under the CIPT reform; medical centres sit inside the SRO’s commercial code range, so a Heidelberg suite enters on the same terms as a Keysborough shed. The holding trust that owns the property while the loan runs must be in place before the contract is signed. Whether an SMSF should own your premises is a question for a licensed financial adviser; we arrange the lending. Existing SMSF loans can be refinanced without increasing the balance; see our SMSF loan refinance guide.
Refinancing and equity release on a Melbourne commercial loan
Two things have changed in the borrower’s favour. Documentation: for commercial loans under $1.5 million, at least one major bank currently offers a streamlined refinance that asks for one year of clean repayment history and a self-declared statement of position instead of full financials; offers change and criteria apply. Value: an industrial unit in the west or south east held for several years has often moved the loan to value ratio down a band without anyone asking, and every 10 per cent lower in LVR is worth roughly 0.25 to 0.75 per cent a year. The commercial refinance calculator finds the break-even month, the refinancing costs guide itemises every fee, the same bank versus switching guide covers when a reprice beats a move, and the commercial refinance page walks the process.
Equity release. The gap between what a Melbourne warehouse or shop is worth today and the loan on it can be borrowed against, by refinancing into a larger loan or by adding a separate facility beside the existing one. Lenders confirm the value, cap total lending at their ceiling for the asset, assess the higher balance on income or rent, and ask what the money is for. The commercial equity release guide covers the arithmetic and the business loan refinance savings calculator shows what moving an overdraft onto property-secured pricing is worth.
Interstate and expat buyers
The Victorian rules treat interstate and overseas buyers better on commercial property than on housing. Foreign purchaser additional duty is an 8 per cent surcharge on residential property; the SRO confines it to land that can be used solely or primarily for residential purposes, so a foreign buyer of a Laverton North shed or a Collins Street suite pays the general rate. The 4 per cent absentee owner surcharge on land tax does not apply to Australian citizens or permanent residents living overseas, so an Australian in Singapore or Dubai buying a Melbourne warehouse in their own name is taxed like a local.
The lending is the harder part: overseas income is shaded by every lender differently, foreign-currency rent is accepted by some and not others, and a leased Melbourne asset bought by an expat is usually written as a lease doc or investment facility at 60 to 70 per cent. Identity is verified by video, documents are signed electronically and settlement runs through PEXA. Our expat home loans guide covers how lenders read overseas income; the same settings apply to a commercial file.
A commercial broker whose home city is Melbourne
Everstone Finance is based at 35 Malcolm Street, South Yarra, founded by Ahmed Lotfi and Zappelin Heng, former major-bank lenders who spent years on the credit side of commercial files. That matters more in commercial lending, where the gap between lenders on LVR, covenants and how they read financials is far wider and none of it is on a rate card. We put the same file in front of more than 40 lenders, bank and non-bank, and tell you which ones actually want your asset this quarter.
Melbourne clients get the meeting in person in South Yarra or by video; documents are signed online, identity is verified by video or at Australia Post, and settlement runs through PEXA. We speak English, Arabic and French. We are paid by the lender on settlement, which our guide to what a mortgage broker costs explains, and we will not quote a commercial rate before we have read the lease, the financials and the clearance certificate. Businesses outside Victoria are covered on our online broker page.
Book a free Melbourne commercial loan appointment, in South Yarra or 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.
Melbourne commercial property loan FAQs
How much deposit do I need for a commercial property loan in Melbourne?
Plan on 20 per cent of the lender’s valuation plus costs for a standard warehouse or factory you will occupy, 25 to 35 per cent for an office or shopfront, 30 to 40 per cent for a leased investment and 25 to 35 per cent inside an SMSF, all indicative. Victorian duty at the general rate sits on top, $66,000 on a $1.2 million purchase.
Is stamp duty being abolished on commercial property in Victoria?
It is being phased out property by property. A commercial or industrial property enters the reform on its first dutiable sale under a contract signed on or after 1 July 2024, and that buyer pays duty in full. Later sales are normally exempt, and from the eleventh year after entry the owner pays the Commercial and Industrial Property Tax at 1 per cent of site value each year, in addition to land tax.
What is Melbourne’s CBD office vacancy rate and does it affect my loan?
The Property Council of Australia’s Office Market Report for the six months to July 2026, released on 6 August 2026, puts Melbourne CBD vacancy at 18.9 per cent, the highest of any Australian CBD, against 13.3 per cent in Sydney and 10.2 per cent in Brisbane. Lenders fund quality space with a strong lease in the standard band and older stock with short leases at lower loan to value ratios.
Can my SMSF still borrow to buy a warehouse or medical suite in Melbourne?
Yes. The 10 August 2026 change ended new SMSF borrowing for residential property only. A fund can still use a limited recourse borrowing arrangement to buy business real property, through specialist lenders at indicative maximum loan to value ratios of around 65 to 75 per cent.
Do I pay GST when I buy commercial property in Melbourne?
Usually the price carries 10 per cent GST if the vendor is registered, and a GST-registered buyer claims it back in the activity statement for the period in which settlement occurs, so it is a cash-flow item rather than a permanent cost. A sale of a going concern under a written agreement, such as a fully leased building sold with its leases, is GST-free.
Does a foreign buyer pay extra duty on Melbourne commercial property?
No. Victoria’s 8 per cent foreign purchaser additional duty applies to residential property, so a foreign buyer of a warehouse, office or shop pays the general duty rate. The 4 per cent absentee owner surcharge on land tax can apply to absentee individuals, corporations and trusts, but not to Australian citizens or permanent residents who live overseas.
Sydney counterpart: our commercial property loans Sydney guide works through NSW duty, land tax, GST and the case for refinancing in a state that charges no duty on a loan switch.
Brisbane counterpart: our commercial property loans Brisbane guide covers Queensland duty and land tax, the industrial land squeeze before the 2032 Games and SMSF premises.
Perth counterpart: our commercial property finance Perth guide works through WA duty on the GST-inclusive price, land tax and MRIT, and the resources-services industrial precincts.
Guides worth reading before you sign
- Commercial property loans in Australia.
- Commercial deposits and LVR.
- Commercial property loan rates.
- How to buy property with your super.
- Releasing equity from a commercial property.
- Commercial loan refinancing costs.