SMSF lending
Limited recourse borrowing, done to the letter
Buying property inside a self-managed super fund is legal, well-established and unforgiving of error. The structure has to be right before settlement, because it cannot be corrected afterwards.
6.84%
Sharpest panel rate, SMSF residential
80%
Maximum LVR, residential security
9
Specialist funders on panel for LRBA lending
$200k
Minimum fund balance most lenders expect
Who is this for?
When an SMSF purchase makes sense
And when it does not. This is one of the few areas where we regularly tell people the answer is no.
01
Your fund has genuine scale
Most lenders want at least two hundred thousand in the fund, and a liquidity buffer of five to ten per cent held after settlement. Below that the costs outweigh the benefit.
02
Buying commercial premises for your own business
The clearest use case. Business real property can be leased back to your own business at market rate, which is not permitted for residential.
03
Contributions comfortably cover the shortfall
Rent plus contributions must service the loan. Concessional caps limit what can go in, so the fund cash flow needs to work without heroic assumptions.
04
You understand what you cannot do
No living in it, no renting it to family, no renovating beyond repair and maintenance while the loan exists. If any of that is the plan, an SMSF is the wrong vehicle.
Why Lending Institute?
Where SMSF files fall over
Usually before the loan is even assessed. The structure has to be correct at exchange, and most errors cannot be unwound without triggering duty and tax.
01
We read the credit policy, not the rate sheet
Specialist lending is decided on policy detail — how a lender treats retained profits, whether a corporate trustee is acceptable, what liquidity an SMSF must retain. We track those rules across the panel and check them before we submit.
02
The file is built for the assessor
A complex file presented well is often approved where the same file, submitted raw, is declined. Financials, structure diagrams and a written explanation go in with the application, not after a query.
03
We tell you early when the answer is no
If your file will not place at a sensible rate, you will hear that in the first conversation rather than after three weeks and a credit enquiry. That honesty costs us applications and keeps our approval rate where it is.
04
Accreditation across the specialist panel
SMSF, commercial, bridging, alt-doc and credit-impaired funders each require separate accreditation and volume to maintain. We hold and use all of them.
How it works
Understand → Compare → Apply → Settle
01
Day 0
Tell us the whole story
Including the decline, the credit event or the structure you think is a problem. Nothing is placed until we understand it.
Credit impact — none
02
Days 1–10
Structure and match
Financials reviewed, the entity structure confirmed, and the file matched to funders whose policy it genuinely fits.
Credit impact — soft enquiry only
03
Weeks 2–3
Submit with the argument attached
The application goes in with financials, add-back workings and a written explanation for the assessor.
Credit impact — enquiry recorded
04
Weeks 4–8
Settle
Specialist files run longer. We manage valuations, legal review of trust deeds and the settlement booking.
Credit impact — account reported
Check the fund can carry it
Model the repayment and LVR position, then test it against rent plus contributions before committing the fund.
Open the calculatorsCommon questions
SMSF lending questions
If yours is not here, ask it directly — you will get a straight answer, not a callback form.
Ask a broker →No. Residential property held in an SMSF cannot be occupied or rented by a member or a related party under any circumstances, including at market rent. Breaching this is a serious compliance failure with substantial penalties. Business real property is the exception — your own business can lease commercial premises from the fund at market rate.
Most lenders cap residential SMSF lending at seventy to eighty per cent LVR, so the fund needs twenty to thirty per cent plus costs, plus a liquidity buffer retained after settlement. On a $700,000 purchase that generally means $230,000 or more available in the fund.
Repairs and maintenance are permitted at any time. Improvements that change the character of the asset are not allowed while a limited recourse borrowing arrangement remains in place, and cannot be funded from borrowed money at all. A kitchen replaced like for like is maintenance; adding a second storey is not.
Because recourse is limited to the single asset — if the fund defaults, the lender cannot pursue other fund assets or the members. That is real protection for you and real risk for them, and the pricing reflects it. Volumes are also much lower, so there is less competition.
Yes. Lender commission on SMSF lending is lower and the work is considerably greater, so a client fee applies. It is quoted in writing and agreed before any application is lodged — you will never receive an invoice you have not already approved.
Related services
Often looked at alongside this
Supporting paragraph for this section.
Get started
Get the structure right before you exchange
Talk to us alongside your accountant. The order these steps happen in determines whether the purchase is possible at all.
Structure first
Bare trust confirmed before any offer is made.
Fee quoted upfront
In writing, agreed before any application.
9 funders
Accredited and actively writing LRBA lending.