SMSFs can no longer borrow to buy residential property.
The SMSF LRBA changes that landed in 2026 are narrow, but there's no way around them: since 10 August 2026 a self-managed super fund can't take out a new loan to buy a residential property. Commercial borrowing is untouched, and any residential loan already in place keeps running. This page sets out what changed, what didn't, and what your options are now.
- Changed on
- 10 August 2026
- Stopped
- New residential borrowing
- Untouched
- Commercial borrowing
- Loans already in place
- Keep running
What the 2026 LRBA rules changed.
In one line: you can no longer borrow inside super to buy a house. Everything else stands.
- · New loans to buy a house inside super
- · Borrowing more against a house your fund already owns
- · Any other way of borrowing to buy a house inside super
- · Borrowing for commercial property, in full
- · Loans already in place, right through to paid off
- · Refinancing one, as long as you do not borrow more
- · Buying a house outright with the fund's own cash
This is a real change of direction, not a tidy-up. Since 2007, borrowing inside super has been the one way to combine super's tax treatment with owning a property outright and borrowing against it. For houses, that combination is now closed to anyone who hadn't already started.
Two groups need to act. If you were part-way through buying a house in your fund, you need to know whether you signed in time. And if you already have one of these loans, you need to know you can still refinance — but only for the same amount. That is the bit people get wrong, because pulling a bit of extra cash out is exactly the sort of thing a lender would happily suggest.
For business owners the picture barely moves. Commercial SMSF property is still one of the better things you can do: the fund buys the building, your business pays rent to the fund, and that rent builds your retirement savings instead of someone else's.
Questions people are asking.
Straight answers. If your situation sits near a line, get it checked before you do anything.
Only for commercial property. Since 10 August 2026 a super fund can't take out a new loan to buy a residential property. Commercial borrowing carries on exactly as before — including buying the premises your own business trades from and renting them back to it.
Nothing. Loans already in place keep running until they are paid off. The change only looks forward — it stops new ones, it doesn't unwind old ones. If you signed up before the cut-off, you are fine, even if settlement happened after it.
Yes, as long as you don't borrow any more than you already owe. On those terms you can change lender or tidy up the debt without losing your protected status. Taking extra cash out against the property is what puts it at risk. Get any refinance checked before you do it, not after.
It is the only way a super fund is allowed to borrow. “Limited recourse” means that if the fund can't pay, the lender can take the property it lent against — and nothing else in the fund. They came in back in 2007, and until now they were the only lawful way for a super fund to borrow to buy a property.
Yes. What stopped is the borrowing, not the owning. A fund can still buy a house with cash it already has. The usual rules still apply: it has to be bought purely to build retirement savings, and nobody in the family can live in it or rent it.
Three, broadly. Borrow to buy commercial property, which is untouched. Buy a house outright with money the fund already has. Or buy it outside super — in your own name, a trust or a company — which costs you super's tax breaks but gets you back to ordinary home loans. Which one suits comes down to the fund's balance, your timeline, and the rest of your plan.
For a business owner buying their own premises, often yes — the rent stops going to a landlord and starts building their own retirement savings. For a house bought with borrowed money, the question no longer arises. For a house bought outright, it comes down to whether the fund can afford it and still hold enough of other things to stay properly spread.
This page sums up publicly reported changes to the super borrowing rules as at July 2026. It is general information only. It doesn't take your situation into account and it is no substitute for advice on your own fund. Check where you stand with your adviser, accountant or licensee before you act — especially on refinancing an existing loan, where the detail is still settling.
Opes Financial Solutions Pty Ltd · Authorised Representative 409415 of La Verne Capital Pty Ltd · Authorised Credit Representative 45250 of Outsource Financial Pty Ltd.
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Not sure where your fund stands?
If you already have one of these loans, are part-way through a purchase, or were planning one, a short call will tell you exactly which side of the line you are on.