Accommodation Finance in FY27: The Non-Bank Map
FY27 Non-Bank Accommodation Finance | Switchboard Finance
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Accommodation Finance · Non-Bank · FY27
Accommodation Finance in FY27: The Non-Bank Map
A cross-lane look at how non-bank lenders fund accommodation businesses into the new financial year, what you can actually borrow across motels, pubs, parks and management rights, and why the deposit is usually smaller than the price makes it look.
Quick Answer
Non-bank lenders fund accommodation businesses on the trade and the tenure, not a postcode. A freehold going concern gears more than a leasehold, and supporting security can stretch the stack toward the full price.
What you can actually borrow to buy an accommodation business
What is actually fundable comes down to two things: how the venue is held, and how well it trades. The price on the contract is the headline, but a non-bank lender funds against the going concern, which is the operating business valued on its trade rather than its bricks alone. That is the single shift that reshapes the whole map, because the deposit is smaller than the price makes it look once the trade and any supporting security are read together.
In practice the question owners ask first is the right one: what can you actually borrow to buy an accommodation business in Australia? The honest answer is that there is no single number, because a freehold pub, a leasehold motel and a holiday park each gear differently. What does hold across every lane is the sequence a lender works through, and getting that sequence right is what separates a funded deal from a stalled one. Switchboard sits across all of these lanes on the accommodation finance hub.
The non-bank map across the lanes
Each accommodation lane sits in a different gearing band, set by tenure and by what the lender can actually take as security. The ranges below are indicative and vary by lender, and they are read off the going-concern valuation, not the contract price. They line up with how the pub and hotel finance and motel finance pages set their own bands.
Read down that table and the pattern is clear: freehold going concern gears 60 to 70 percent, indicative and varies by lender, while leasehold sits around 40 to 50 percent of the going-concern valuation, capped by the lease term, indicative and varies by lender. The gap between those two bands is the single biggest driver of how much cash a buyer needs at settlement, which is why tenure is the first thing on the file.
Tenure first, valuation second, deposit third
Tenure first, valuation second, deposit third is the order a lender actually works in, and reversing it is where buyers come unstuck. Tenure sets the gearing band, the going-concern valuation sets the dollar figure inside that band, and only then does the deposit fall out as the gap. A buyer who fixes on a deposit number before knowing the tenure is guessing, because a leasehold and a freehold of the same price need very different cash in.
This is also where the funding is matched to the deal, not a payslip. A non-bank lender on an accommodation file is reading the trade, the lease, the entitlements and the security in the round, the way a credit desk reads a pub deal on the freehold and gaming side. The FY27 Budget and tax-reform settings sit in the background of all of this as timing context, summarised at treasury.gov.au, but they change how a business is held and taxed, not whether it can be funded.
Where the non-bank panel beats the bank
The non-bank lender panel is the part of the map a major bank simply does not have. When a bank caps a leasehold at a thin number or declines on self-employed income, a broker can route the same deal across specialist funders that price the going concern properly. In practice that is the difference between a deal that stalls at the branch and one that settles, and it is why the lane has grown so quickly into FY27.
The other lever is structure. A vendor carry can fill the last slice behind the senior lender, supporting security can stretch the stack, and a buyer who is also moving home can run a clean personal read through a one doc home loan. Each of these is a tool in the same kit, and the right combination, with a documented exit strategy, is what makes an FY27 accommodation purchase fundable.
Accommodation finance in FY27 is a map, not a single product. Freehold gears highest, leasehold lowest, and vendor finance fills the gap, all read off the going concern rather than the price. The non-bank panel is what makes the harder lanes fundable, and supporting security plus a clean structure is what gets a buyer toward the full price without the deposit the headline number implies.
Key takeaway: Work tenure first, valuation second, deposit third, and let a broker match the lane to the right non-bank lender.Frequently Asked Questions
What you can borrow to buy an accommodation business depends on tenure and trade, not the sticker price. A freehold going concern typically gears around 60 to 70 percent of the going-concern valuation, indicative and varies by lender, while a leasehold sits nearer 40 to 50 percent and is capped by the remaining lease term.
Adding supporting security such as a home or another property can lift total borrowing toward 100 percent of the purchase price, which is why the deposit is usually smaller than the price makes it look.
Yes, a leasehold accommodation business usually needs a larger cash deposit than a freehold because lenders gear it around 40 to 50 percent of the going-concern valuation, indicative and varies by lender, and the loan is capped by how much lease term is left.
The security is the business and its trade rather than the land, so there is no bricks to fall back on. A broker can offset some of that with supporting security or a vendor carry, which we cover on the vendor finance page.
A non-bank lender rarely funds 100 percent against the venue alone, but the total funding stack can reach toward 100 percent of the price once supporting security is added. Supporting security lifts borrowing toward 100 percent of price by pledging a home or another property alongside the going concern, and a vendor carry can fill the last slice.
The right mix is matched to the deal, not a payslip, so it is worth mapping with a broker on the accommodation finance hub before you sign.
A going concern in accommodation finance is an operating business sold as a working whole, valued on its trade rather than its bricks alone. For a motel, pub or park that means the lender reads the maintainable earnings and the freehold or leasehold tenure together, not just the building.
You can read the full definition in our going-concern glossary entry, and it is the foundation of how every lane in this map is funded.
Yes, vendor finance is often the last slice of the funding stack for buying a motel or pub, sitting behind the senior lender as a vendor carry of around 10 to 25 percent, varies by deal. It is usually refinanced out across a two to five year window once the trade is proven, and it needs a deed of priority to sit cleanly behind the bank.
Our vendor finance page sets out how the carry is structured and how a clean exit strategy is documented.
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