SMSF lending, now the 2026 rules have landed.
SMSF lending changed on 10 August 2026: a self-managed super fund can no longer take out a new loan to buy residential property. Commercial is untouched, and loans already in place keep running. We hold both the advice licence and the credit licence, so the strategy and the loan come from the same person — across more than 30 SMSF files so far.
Why it helps to have both under one roof.
A loan inside a super fund isn't a normal loan, and the structure and the advice have to agree with each other. A broker on their own can arrange the loan but isn't licensed to give you the strategy. A planner on their own can write the strategy but has to send the loan somewhere else. We do both. There's a longer read in the SMSF property investment guide covering the rules, the costs and the traps.
That's not a slogan — it's just how the firm is set up, and there are already 30-odd SMSF loan clients on the books. If you're weighing this up as part of a bigger picture, the retirement planning hub covers where property inside super fits alongside everything else.
The lenders who still do this.
The big banks pulled out of SMSF lending years ago, so it's specialists now. They each draw the line in a different place — how much they'll lend against the property, how much cash the fund has to keep spare, and how big the fund needs to be in the first place.
La Trobe Financial
Lends on both commercial and residential SMSF purchases, and has been in this space a long time.
Mortgage Ezy
Will often lend a higher share of the price, which helps when the fund's cash buffer is thin.
Pepper Money
More flexible about how they assess the fund's income when the standard rules don't quite fit.
Granite Home Loans
An SMSF specialist. Worth a look when a fund needs someone to read the situation carefully.
Picking the lender is part of the strategy, not a detail at the end. You get a shortlist with the reasoning written beside each one.
Built up one fund at a time.
More than 30 SMSF loans written, commercial and residential. Structures that hold up if the ATO looks at them, and that still make sense in twenty years — not just on settlement day.
How it runs.
Five steps. The first conversation — can your fund even do this? — is free and takes about half an hour.
- 01Can your fund do it?
Free. We look at the fund's balance, its structure and its cash flow and tell you whether a purchase is realistic.
- 02The written advice
A Statement of Advice covering the fund's investment strategy and the borrowing, and why both make sense.
- 03Choosing a lender
Matched to the property and the fund, from the specialist panel, with the reasoning shown.
- 04Application and holding trust
Run alongside your accountant or solicitor, with the lender's conditions worked through at the same time.
- 05Settlement, then yearly reviews
We review both the advice and the loan each year — not one or the other.
Who you're dealing with.
- Your adviser
- Balki Balakrishnan
- Experience
- 12+ years across both sides
- Advice licence (AFSL)
- AR 409415 of La Verne Capital Pty Ltd
- Credit licence (ACL)
- CR 45250 of Outsource Financial Pty Ltd
- Member of
- FAAA, FBAA
- Track record
- 30+ SMSF loans written
SMSF strategies mean giving you personal advice. The Financial Services Guide sets out exactly what we can and can't advise on.
The questions to ask first.
For commercial property, yes. For residential property, no — new borrowing for residential stopped on 10 August 2026. If your fund already had a residential loan before then, it keeps running under the old rules and can go to completion. What your fund can do next depends on what it already owns and owes, which is usually a 30-minute conversation.
It stands for Limited Recourse Borrowing Arrangement, and it's the only way a super fund is allowed to borrow. “Limited recourse” means that if it all goes wrong, the lender can take the property it lent against — and nothing else in the fund. To make that work, the property sits in a separate holding trust until the loan is paid off. It's not a normal home loan, which is why the advice and the lending have to line up.
Mostly La Trobe Financial, Mortgage Ezy, Pepper Money and Granite Home Loans. The big banks walked away from SMSF lending years ago, so this end of the market is served by specialists. Which one suits you comes down to how much you're borrowing, how much cash the fund holds, its balance, and what you're buying.
Since August 2026, new borrowing only works for commercial. That suits business owners buying the premises they already trade from — the business can rent it off the fund, as long as it pays a proper market rent. A fund can still own residential property outright if it has the cash; it just can't take out a new loan to buy one.
Longer than a normal home loan — count on 6 to 10 weeks from application to settlement. Setting up the holding trust and satisfying the lender's conditions both add time. Get the structure sorted before you sign a contract, not after.
Your accountant or solicitor sets up the trust. We handle the lender and the strategy side. Your accountant stays responsible for the fund's tax and compliance. The point is that all three of us talk to each other, so nothing falls through the middle.
Because SMSF property is slow to unwind and expensive to get wrong — the ATO penalties are real. When the same person does the advice and the loan, the lender gets chosen with your twenty-year plan in mind rather than as a one-off transaction that someone else has to live with.
More on SMSF
- SMSF property loansHow the borrowing works, who qualifies, and the holding trust.
- SMSF lendersThe specialist lenders side by side.
- Using super to buy propertyThe starting point if you've never run your own fund.
- SMSF borrowing rulesWhat the ATO allows, and where people come unstuck.
- SMSF commercial propertyBuying your own business premises inside the fund.
Find out if your fund can.
Half an hour, free, and no paperwork needed — just enough to tell you whether property inside your super is worth chasing.