You have a property in your self-managed super fund. It has tenants, it is doing what you hoped, and you would like the fund to own a second one. Since 10 August 2026 the way to that second property has changed.
What changed on 10 August
From 10 August 2026 a super fund can’t take out a new loan to buy residential property. That is now law. Loans already in place carry on as they were. A fund can still buy residential property with its own cash, and it can still borrow to buy commercial property that is used in a business.
So for most funds the question has become how the fund’s own cash can do the work.
Business premises: the fund can still borrow
If the next property is commercial and used in a business, such as premises your own business leases from the fund at a market rent, the fund can still borrow to buy it. The law calls this business real property: premises used wholly and exclusively in a business. The loan is secured on that one property, held in its own holding trust, and the lender can claim only that property if something goes wrong. Business real property is also one of the few assets a fund may buy from a related party, at market value.
Residential property: the fund pays cash for a share
Many funds hold enough cash for part of a property, but not all of it. There is a way for a fund to own that part outright with its own cash, alongside a family trust that owns the rest and does the borrowing. The fund itself borrows nothing.
It works within the super laws only when it is set up with care. The seller, the builder, every cost and every loan between the family entities have to meet strict rules, and a small mistake can cost the fund heavily in tax. So it is designed around your family, with your accountant, an SMSF lawyer and a licensed financial adviser involved before anything is signed. Every loan is also subject to the lender’s assessment.
The first property still sets up the next
The fund’s cash for its next share builds the way it always has: contributions within the caps that apply to you, rent from what the fund already owns, and the fund’s own earnings. How those are sequenced between purchases decides when the fund is ready for its next share, and how much buffer it keeps for a vacancy or a rate rise.
Those decisions are made before the first settlement. A fund planned that way owns a position with the next step already mapped, rather than a single property.
Where to start
If you would like to talk through the lending side, book a free discovery call. We look at what borrowing the family side can support and whether there is a next step. Whether the fund should take part is a question for your financial adviser.
General information only. It isn’t personal financial, tax, legal or credit advice, and it doesn’t recommend a structure, property or product. Whether an SMSF or this structure suits you is for a licensed financial adviser, with your accountant on tax and an SMSF lawyer on the documents.
Juan Jeffery
Business & Commercial Credit Architect
Healthy Wealthy Investor