A commercial property mortgage broker arranges finance for property bought or refinanced for business purposes: offices, warehouses, retail sites, medical centres, development sites and investment buildings held in company or trust structures. The work sits apart from home lending because the lender’s decision turns on the property’s income and the borrower entity, not on a household budget.
This page explains what the role involves, how commercial assessment differs from the residential process most brokers know, and what it takes to do the work properly, whether you are considering adding commercial to your service mix or deciding whether to engage a specialist.
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What a commercial property broker actually does
The role borrows its shape from residential broking but runs on different rails. Where residential mortgage brokers package payslips and living expenses, a commercial broker builds a case around lease terms, rental income, outgoings, tenant covenant strength and the borrowing entity’s financials. Deals are priced and structured individually. Credit memos replace automated scoring, and the broker’s relationship with the lender’s credit team often decides whether an edge case gets done.
How the assessment differs
Serviceability is measured against the property’s performance. Lenders typically test net rental income against repayments using coverage ratios such as interest cover or debt-service cover, rather than declaring household expenses off a benchmark table. Pricing reflects the deal: interest rates sit above owner-occupied housing, margins move with leverage and tenant quality, and facilities commonly run on shorter loan terms with annual reviews instead of a set-and-forget thirty-year amortisation.
Security is treated differently too. Valuations focus on commercial yield and alternative use, general-purpose security guarantees from directors are standard, and special-purpose properties attract sharper margins because they are harder to re-let.
Who lends in this market
The panel splits into major and regional banks, non-bank funders and private lenders. Banks price sharpest but apply tighter policy and longer timelines; non-banks trade margin for flexibility on leverage, document quality and unusual security; private capital solves time-critical or outside-policy deals at the highest cost. Knowing which tier fits which scenario is the core of the job, and it changes as appetite shifts, so current appetite should be verified with each funder before any promise is made to a client.
If you are new to the space, start by reading how commercial loans differ structurally from the home-loan products you write daily, then shadow an experienced commercial broker through two or three live files before running your own.
Commercial versus residential practice
The regulatory footing also changes. Genuinely commercial purpose lending generally falls outside the National Credit Code, so appointments, disclosure and record-keeping need commercial documentation rather than consumer-credit templates. Brokers moving between the two worlds get caught out here more than anywhere else, so confirm the purpose of every facility in writing before you choose which regime applies. The comparison of commercial loans with residential practice is worth revisiting whenever you inherit a file from another channel.
Getting a deal done
A well-prepared commercial submission contains the borrowing entity’s financials, the lease or heads of agreement, rent roll and outgoings, a tenancy schedule and a clear statement of purpose. From there the application process moves through indicative terms, formal approval, valuation and settlement, with indicative-to-formal being where most delays hide. Setting client expectations around valuation timing and credit committee dates early is what keeps these transactions calm.
Whether you plan to write commercial yourself or refer it out, the next step is the same: pick one property type, learn its lender market and its metrics, and build one referral relationship with a specialist who already settles those deals. Depth in one segment beats a thin spread across all of them.
