Commercial property market hits its stride

Last week at Loan Market Group’s annual conference in Melbourne, senior finance broker Grant Rheuben was named the brokerage’s Commercial Broker of the Year after he wrote in excess of $45 million in commercial loans over the 2011-2012 financial year.

Mr Rheuben said while FY2012 had its challenges, the market did provide some excellent opportunities for a variety of commercial endeavours and commercial lenders will compete hard for good deals.

“The days of easy credit are long gone and the initial presentation of a transaction to the bank is critical. In most cases a business owner only gets one opportunity to showcase why a particular venture will succeed,” Mr Rheuben said.

Mr Rheuben said while interest rates and fees are important in any type of loan, in a commercial deal extra diligence and consideration needs to be given to the loan amount, loan term, loan to property ratio, ongoing repayment obligations and loan covenants.

“All commercial lenders have clear policies on all those factors, however those policies can differ significantly from each bank and many commercial borrowers may find their business proposal is better suited towards a lender they weren’t previously aware of.”