Medical Property Loans

AHPRA registration is the primary gate to specialist medical real estate lending. Registered medical professionals, including doctors, specialists, dentists, and registered allied health practitioners, access programs with higher LVRs, waived LMI, and rate discounts not available to standard commercial borrowers. The Australian Health Practitioner Regulation Agency (AHPRA) maintains the public register of all 16 health professions covered.

From the deals I write, AHPRA verification is one of the first steps a specialist medical lender takes during application. Without current AHPRA registration, the application typically falls back to standard commercial assessment criteria, and the LVR uplift, LMI waiver, and rate discount fall away.

Some specialist lenders extend medical professional programs to allied health categories not directly covered by AHPRA, but the terms vary widely. The next FAQ covers the allied health pathway in detail.

Yes. Allied health professionals can access specialist medical property finance, typically at slightly lower LVRs than registered medical and dental professionals. AHPRA-registered allied health categories include physiotherapy, chiropractic, osteopathy, podiatry, optometry, psychology, occupational therapy, and Chinese medicine practitioners.

In my experience, AHPRA-registered allied health practitioners qualify for up to 80% LVR on owner-occupier purchases, where AHPRA-registered medical and dental professionals reach 90 to 95%. The LMI position also varies more by lender for allied health.

For allied health professions not covered by AHPRA, the application typically falls back to standard commercial assessment. A strong practice income history can still support competitive terms, but the specialist programs that apply to AHPRA-registered practitioners do not extend automatically.

Yes, with caveats. New graduates typically do not have the 2 years of BAS history that established practitioners have, so specialist medical lenders rely on different evidence:

• AHPRA registration confirmation
• Employment contract with the relevant hospital or practice
• A clear pathway into the profession

From the new graduate deals I write, specialist lenders extend up to 90% LVR with strong employment contract evidence, though LMI may apply at the higher LVR tiers. Macquarie, Medfin, and a few other specialist medical financiers actively write new graduate medical property finance with bespoke assessment criteria.

The trade-off is usually a slightly lower initial LVR or a more conservative deposit position. The full AHPRA professional LVR pathway typically opens up once 2 years of BAS history is in place.

Medical property suits a specific profile, and from the deals I have turned away or talked clients out of, there are a few clear situations where the structure works against you rather than for you. Naming them upfront tends to save practitioners a lot of wasted effort.

Insufficient practice tenure. Where the practice is less than 2 years old and BAS history is thin, specialist medical lenders may decline regardless of AHPRA status. Wait until the BAS data supports the application, or explore the new graduate pathway through specific lenders who write that scenario.

Off-precinct property without strong comparable sales. A medical property bought outside an established healthcare precinct typically valuates 10 to 15 percent below contract price because the lender's valuer cannot find comparable evidence. If you find a property genuinely below market, get a specialist medical valuer's view before signing.

Practice goodwill conflated with real estate purchase. Some buyers try to fund both the property and the practice goodwill purchase under one commercial property loan. Goodwill is unsecured business finance with different lenders and higher rates. Mix the two and the deal usually declines, or gets approved at a rate that punishes the property component.

Specialised property without specialist lender appetite. Strata medical suites and day surgeries cap at 70 to 80 percent LVR. If your deposit position assumes 90 percent LVR (the standard medical centre rate), the deposit gap can be $200,000 to $400,000 on a $2M purchase.

Investment purchase with weak tenant covenant. Investment medical property with a short-lease tenant or unproven covenant is harder to finance than an owner-occupier purchase by a practising medical professional. The lender's serviceability assessment for investment lending is more conservative.

As a finance broker, I can tell you whether a deal stacks structurally and which lenders are likely to write it. The wider question of whether the property suits your overall financial plan belongs with your accountant or licensed financial adviser.

AHPRA-registered medical and dental professionals access up to 95% LVR on owner-occupier commercial property purchases through specialist medical lenders. The standard tier sits at 90%, with the higher 95% reserved for the strongest applications and select lenders.

The LVR matrix shifts across three dimensions:

• Professional status. AHPRA medical and dental: up to 95% (owner-occupier). Allied health professionals: typically 80%. Investors: capped at 70 to 80% depending on the property and tenant covenant.
• Property type. Standard medical centres reach the maximum LVR for the profile. Strata medical suites and day surgeries cap 10 to 20 percentage points lower because of resale liquidity and lender appetite.
• Occupancy. Owner-occupier through a practice entity is the strongest position. Mixed use can fall either side depending on the lender. Investment lending sits below both.

In practice, these factors combine. An AHPRA professional buying a standard medical centre to operate from typically lands at 90 to 95% LVR. The same professional buying a strata suite for investment use lands closer to 70%.

LMI (Lenders Mortgage Insurance) is a residential lending product, not a commercial one. On commercial property purchases the medical professional benefit looks different: AHPRA-registered medical and dental professionals access higher LVRs (up to 95%) through specialist medical lending without the risk pricing that would normally apply at that LVR.

The LMI waiver question matters most when a medical deal involves residential property as well. Many of the deals I write touch both sides: residential security supporting a commercial purchase, or refinancing an existing home loan at the same time the practice premises are bought. AHPRA-registered medical and dental professionals qualify for LMI waiver on residential lending up to 90% LVR (and higher with some lenders), which is typically worth $25,000 to $40,000 on a $1M home loan. The waiver applies to the residential side, not the commercial side.

The assurance worth flagging: structuring your commercial property finance through a specialist medical broker does not affect your medical professional benefits on the residential side. We coordinate the full position so you keep the residential LMI waiver, the residential rate discount, and the commercial property LVR uplift across the whole structure.

Yes, and this is a common structure for allied health professionals who want their retirement super to own the premises their practice operates from. The fund buys the property, leases it back to your practice entity at market rent, and the rent flows into the SMSF as ongoing income.

The advantages are real: rent that would otherwise leave your group entirely now lands in the low-tax super environment (typically taxed at 15%), the property sits as a long-term retirement asset, and capital growth compounds inside super rather than in your personal name.

The constraints are also real. Self-managed super funds can only borrow under a Limited Recourse Borrowing Arrangement (LRBA), which has a single-acquirable-asset rule and other compliance requirements. The lender panel for SMSF lending is smaller than standard commercial. Our free SMSF borrowing capacity calculator gives an indicative figure for your fund's specific scenario, and our SMSF commercial property loans page covers this pathway in depth.

Speak with your accountant before pursuing this route. SMSF structuring is a financial planning decision, not just a finance decision.

Some can be bundled, others are better arranged separately. The split usually breaks down like this:

• Fit-out construction (consulting rooms, partitions, cabinetry, signage) can often be bundled into the property loan. Some lenders extend up to 100% of property plus fit-out for AHPRA-registered professionals.
• Big-ticket equipment (dental chairs, imaging machines, surgical equipment) typically goes through dedicated equipment finance, secured against the equipment itself.
• Practice management software and IT infrastructure usually fits within equipment finance or a small business facility.

In my experience, separating equipment finance from the property loan usually produces a better outcome for the borrower. Equipment finance terms (3 to 7 years) match the equipment life, the security is asset-specific, and the rate prices the asset directly. Bundling everything into a 25-year property loan can quietly extend equipment costs across the full property term, which materially raises the total interest paid on items written down or replaced long before the loan matures.

To explore business equipment loans for health professionals visit our business equipment finance page.

Specialist medical property lending in Australia is offered by a mix of major banks, regional/specialist banks, and dedicated medical financiers. The most active names I work with on medical property deals include:

• Westpac, CBA, NAB, ANZ (major banks with medical professional programs)
• Macquarie (specialist medical lending)
• BOQ Specialist (long-standing medical professional focus)
• BankVic (customer-owned bank with medical professional programs)
• Medfin (NAB-owned specialist medical financier)
• Avant Finance (medical-specific lender from Avant Mutual Group)

Each lender has different appetite depending on the property type, your AHPRA category, practice tenure, and occupancy. From what I see, going direct to a single lender rarely produces the best terms. A deal one lender prices conservatively often gets approved at a sharper rate by the next lender on the panel.

Working through a specialist broker means the application is pre-screened against the lenders most likely to write it, which preserves your credit file and shortens the timeline.

Specialist medical property loan rates currently sit in the range of 5.95% - 7.50%. The lower end is typically available to AHPRA-registered owner-occupier applications with strong income evidence in established medical precincts. For a full breakdown across all commercial loan categories, see our commercial property interest rates page.

Medical professional rates typically run 0.5 to 1.5 percent below standard commercial pricing through specialist lender programs. The discount is one of three components of the medical professional advantage on commercial property, alongside higher LVR ceilings and specialist underwriting that recognises medical practice income.

Allied health and investor rates sit closer to standard commercial pricing, with the exact figure varying by lender and deal profile.

Most medical property loans settle within 4 to 8 weeks of formal application. Pre-approval can come through in 48 to 72 hours where AHPRA verification and supporting documents are complete at submission.

Specialist medical lenders often turn around faster than generalist commercial lenders, because the underwriting team is familiar with medical professional applications and the documentation pattern is consistent across deals.

The biggest delays I see come from incomplete documentation: BAS statements that have not been lodged, missing entity structure documents for practice partners, or property valuations that come in short and require renegotiation. Getting the documentation organised before the application rather than during it typically saves 1 to 2 weeks on the timeline.

Medical property loan applications need two sets of documents.

About you and your practice:

• AHPRA registration confirmation
• Two years of BAS for established practices (or employment contract for new graduates)
• Two years of personal tax returns
• Practice ownership and entity structure (sole trader, partnership, service trust, company)
• Member or partner statements if multi-practitioner practice

The property and your application:

• Contract of sale (or property details if pre-approval)
• Existing leases and tenant details if applicable
• Independent commercial property valuation (we coordinate)
• Summary of other property and assets
• Existing loan statements if refinancing

The specific list varies by lender, professional status, and deal type. I provide a tailored documentation checklist once we have had an initial conversation about your scenario.

The eligibility tool above gives you an immediate read on the five factors specialist medical lenders weigh most heavily: AHPRA status, deposit position, property characteristics, practice tenure, and credit history. It runs locally on the page, takes about 60 seconds, and returns a tier indication on the strength of your application.

For a deal-specific assessment that factors in the actual property you are considering, call us on 1300 262 098 or book a free consultation. We have arranged over $550 million in commercial finance for 3,300+ Australian businesses across the commercial property loans space, with specialist lending for medical and allied health professionals as a core focus.