Buying property through your self-managed super fund is a genuinely powerful way to build retirement wealth — when the structure is set up properly from day one. We make that bit simple.
Buying property through a self-managed super fund used to feel like something only accountants and finance nerds could pull off. It's not. The rules are specific, but they're not complicated once someone walks you through them in plain English.
We do this every week — for business owners buying their own premises, for couples turning a strong super balance into a rental property, and for everyone in between. We work with your accountant or set you up with one if you don't have one yet, and handle the paperwork from start to finish. You stay focused on what you're buying. We handle how it gets bought.
Their business now pays rent to their own super fund — at the same market rate they were paying their old landlord.
Three reasons it works — when it suits your situation.
Rental income inside super is taxed at 15% while you're still working. Once you move into retirement and start drawing a pension from your fund, that drops to zero. Capital gains get a generous discount too. Over 10 or 20 years of holding a property, that tax difference adds up to real money — often tens of thousands.
Most super sits in shares and managed funds — fine, but you've got no say in what's in there. Owning property through your fund gives you something tangible: an actual building, generating actual rent, growing in value the same way property does outside super. It's a way to diversify your retirement savings into an asset class you understand.
If you run your own business, this is the one most people get excited about. Your business pays rent — at proper market rates — to your own super fund instead of a landlord. The rent grows your retirement savings. The building is held outside the business, so it's not exposed if something goes sideways. We help business owners do this every week. Nothing tricky about it — just gotta nail the setup.
Three steps to get from "I'm interested" to settled.
Before you sign anything on a property, your super fund needs the right legal structure in place — basically a separate trust that holds the property while the loan is being paid down. We coordinate with your accountant or recommend one we trust, get the paperwork sorted, and make sure everything is in the right order. Get this bit right and the rest is straightforward.
Not every lender lends to super funds, and those that do all have different rules — some want minimum fund balances of $200,000, others go lower. Some prefer commercial property, others prefer residential. We compare across our specialist lender panel and find the one whose policies actually fit your fund's balance, the type of property you want, and the rent it'll generate.
We handle the paperwork through to settlement, work with your accountant on the final compliance pieces, and make sure your fund has the cash buffer the lender wants to see post-settlement. From there it's the same as any rental property — find a tenant, collect the rent into the fund, pay down the loan over time.
Tell us about your fund and the property — we'll show you the borrowing capacity, the deposit and costs, and the cash buffer your fund will need post-settlement.
A few quick details so we can match the right lender posture.
Target purchase price and the gross rent you reckon it'll pull.
Pick the term you'd want for the loan inside super.
Residential SMSF loans typically run up to 30 years; commercial up to 15–25 depending on the lender.
This calc gives you a feel for it. To get a number you can actually use, we'll review your fund's profile, the property type, and our specialist SMSF lender panel — no pressure, no commitment.
Estimates only. This calculator does not assess your fund's borrowing capacity, does not take your full fund or member circumstances into account, and is not a credit offer or recommendation. SMSF lender servicing assessments vary; deposit, LVR caps, and cash-buffer requirements differ between residential and commercial property and across our specialist lender panel. Always confirm the structure with your accountant before committing. Pilbara Equities Pty Ltd, CRN 478535, of Mortgage Specialists Pty Ltd, ACL 387025.
Property in super has a few specific rules. None of them are scary — they just need someone to walk you through them.
Property in super has to be held purely for retirement benefits — that's the rule the whole system runs on. In practice, that means: you can't live in it, your family can't live in it, and you can't rent it to anyone you're related to.
The one big exception is commercial property used for a business — your own business is allowed to pay your fund market rent for the premises. We'll walk you through what counts as related and what doesn't, so there are no surprises.
While the loan is being paid down, you can repair and maintain the property — fix the roof, replace a hot water system, repaint, the usual stuff. What you can't do is change the property's fundamental character with borrowed funds: you can't bulldoze and rebuild, you can't subdivide, you can't add a granny flat.
Once the loan is paid off, those rules drop away and the property's yours to do what you like with (within normal super rules). For most clients, this is simpler than it sounds — they're buying a property they want to hold steady and rent out, not flip or develop.
Lenders want to see your fund hold a cash buffer after settlement — typically 5–10% of the property's value — to cover the loan repayments, rates, insurance, and any unexpected costs. This is one of the most common reasons applications get knocked back, and it's also one of the easiest to plan for. We work out the buffer your lender will expect upfront, so you know exactly how much your fund needs to have sitting there before you put an offer in.
While you're still working and contributing to your fund, rent and other earnings inside the fund are taxed at 15%. Capital gains on a property held more than 12 months get a one-third discount, bringing the effective rate to around 10%.
Once you move into retirement and start drawing a pension from the fund, both rental income and capital gains drop to 0% tax. That's the part most people sit up for. We're not accountants, so we always recommend you sense-check the numbers with yours — but we'll show you the rough shape of it before you commit.
How we helped a Perth couple buy the warehouse their business has been renting for years.
Bought their own warehouse for $920,000 — paid by their super, leased back to their business.
Greg and Kate Henderson run a logistics business out of a 600-square-metre warehouse in Welshpool. They'd been renting it from the same landlord for nine years, paying around $58,000 a year in rent. Their accountant had been gently mentioning for ages that they could buy the property through their combined super fund — but they didn't know where to start. They came to us with a fund balance of around $640,000 between the two of them, mostly in shares and managed funds. The warehouse was on the market for $920,000.
We worked with their accountant to set up the holding trust, ran the numbers across our specialist lender panel, and matched them with a lender comfortable with light-industrial property and their fund's profile. Their super covered the 30% deposit and costs (around $310,000), leaving a cash buffer in the fund for repayments and outgoings.
Their business now pays rent to their own super fund — at the same market rate they were paying their old landlord. Eight years from now when Greg starts drawing a pension, that rental income flows into the fund tax-free. The lease keeps the business operating exactly as it always has. The only thing that changed is whose retirement savings the rent is growing.
Composite scenario built from multiple real Pilbara Finance commercial SMSF property transactions. Names, locations and identifying details are illustrative; the timeline, structure and pricing reflect the kind of outcomes our specialist SMSF lender panel produces in 2026.
The questions clients actually ask us — answered in plain English.
Send us a quick rundown of your fund balance, what kind of property you're thinking about, and where you're at in the process. We'll come back with a plain-English read on whether it stacks up.
Real reviews from real Google. No curated screenshots, no cherry-picked quotes.
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Send us a quick rundown of your super balance, whether you're thinking residential or commercial, and roughly what kind of property you're looking at. We'll come back with the borrowing capacity, the deposit and buffer your fund will need, and a clear yes-or-no on whether it's the right move right now. If it isn't, we'll tell you what would need to change for it to be — and when it might be the right time to revisit.
"Walked us through the SMSF structure in plain English and coordinated with our accountant from day one. Felt straightforward."
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