SMSF loans: borrowing through your super fund

What this page can and can't tell you

As a mortgage broker, I arrange the loan: which lenders will lend to your fund, what they need, and how the loan is set up. Whether to start an SMSF, whether property suits your fund, and how the tax works are licensed financial and tax advice. Those belong to your accountant or financial adviser, and I work alongside them. Nothing here is advice about your fund.

If the fund buys commercial property

Commercial property is treated differently. Business real property, land and buildings used wholly and exclusively in a business, is an exception to the rules that stop a fund buying from or dealing with related parties. That's why a business owner's fund can buy their business premises, at market value, and lease it back to the business at market rent. Since 10 August 2026, it's also the only real property a new SMSF loan can buy, so it's now the main reason to look at SMSF lending.

If a family member or your own company lends to the fund

The lender doesn't have to be a bank. A related party can lend to the fund, but the ATO requires the loan's terms and how it runs to match what an unrelated lender would offer, and the interest can't be more than an arm's-length rate. If the terms aren't on an arm's-length basis, the tax consequences for the fund can be serious, so this is one for your accountant from the start.

Holding property through a unit trust

Some funds invest in property through a related unit trust rather than owning it directly. For the fund's units to be treated outside the in-house asset limit, the trust must meet strict conditions for as long as the fund holds them. The trust can't borrow money or give a charge over its assets. It can't lease property to a related party, except business real property under a legally binding lease, or buy assets from a related party, again except business real property. It can't run a business, and every dealing must be at arm's length.

If any condition is broken, the ATO says the investment can never return to its excluded status, even after the problem is fixed. It's a structure for your accountant or adviser to set up and run; because the trust itself can't borrow, it isn't a loan a broker arranges.

Refinancing an existing SMSF loan

An existing SMSF loan can usually be refinanced to another lender, as long as the new loan still meets the borrowing rules: the same single asset, the same holding trust, and limited recourse. The 10 August 2026 change doesn't affect refinancing a loan set up before that date, including one on a home. Refinancing can lower the rate, change the term, or move a related-party loan to a commercial lender. Your accountant should confirm the new arrangement before it settles.