Aquamore: short-term, property-secured business loans through brokers

Most business owners never meet Aquamore face to face, and that’s by design. The Sydney lender, which has operated since 2016 from the MLC Centre on Martin Place, takes its deals exclusively from finance brokers. If your broker has mentioned it, this profile explains what the lender publishes, where it fits among private lenders, and what to check before you sign.

Everything below comes from Aquamore’s own website as at October 2026. Private lenders refine their products often, so treat the figures as a starting point and confirm them through your broker.

What Aquamore lends, in one table

Aquamore groups its lending into commercial finance, bridging and SMSF loans. All of it is secured by real estate, and all of it is for commercial or investment purposes rather than personal spending.

Product	What Aquamore publishes	Typical use
Short-term commercial loans	Up to $7.5m, maximum 75% LVR, terms to 36 months	Working capital, cash flow, hiring, technology
Secured business loans	$300k to $7.5m against property	Equipment, premises, releasing capital tied up in assets
Commercial property loans	Range not stated separately	Buying or refinancing commercial premises
Land bridging	Up to $7.5m for eligible borrowers	Buying a site, holding land until a DA comes through, refinancing
Short-term bridging	Range not stated separately	Buying before an existing property sells, auction purchases
SMSF loans	$300k to $7.5m; fund needs net assets of at least $200k	Commercial, residential or rural property inside super

The short-term commercial page also refers to both first and second mortgage lending. If you’re weighing those two positions, the page on second mortgage business loans shows how ranking behind your bank alters both the price and the paperwork.

Three details that shape whether Aquamore suits you

The $300k floor. Aquamore’s ranges start at $300k. An owner who needs $80k to cover a BAS bill and a slow month is better served elsewhere, for instance by short-term business loans or an unsecured facility. Aquamore’s sweet spot is the mid-sized deal: a business partner buyout, a debt consolidation, a land settlement.

Loan-to-value sets the ceiling. With a 75% maximum on short-term commercial loans, the property’s value caps the deal regardless of how strong your trading looks. Take an invented example. A wholesaler’s company holds a Wetherill Park warehouse appraised at $2.4m with $900k still owing to its bank. At 75%, total lending against the warehouse can’t exceed $1.8m, so the most fresh money on offer is roughly $900k, before fees. Our LVR calculator runs this sum for your own property.

Most loans finish within a year. Aquamore allows up to 36 months but notes that most short-term loans settle within 12. That’s a reminder to arrive with a clear exit: a refinance once your financials are lodged, a property sale, or a contract payment due in. Its land bridging page lists an effective exit strategy as an eligibility factor, alongside credit, collateral, trading history, borrowing experience and the ability to meet repayments.

Wondering whether private money is even the right category here? Give us the outline of your deal and a specialist will ring to discuss it.

Who Aquamore tends to suit

Reading its published criteria together, Aquamore looks built for:

• Established businesses or investors with real estate equity who need $300k or more quickly and can’t wait on a bank’s timetable.
• Borrowers with a blemish on their file. It says credit-impaired applicants are considered and a low score isn’t an automatic no.
• New or thinly traded businesses with property. The short-term commercial page says brand-new businesses and those with limited revenue may still be considered.
• Developers and land buyers who need to settle a site or hold it until planning approval comes through.
• SMSF trustees buying property through a fund that meets the related-party rules Aquamore lists, such as no member or relative living in or renting the property.

It’s a weaker fit for anyone without real estate to offer, anyone needing less than $300k, and owners who would rather deal with a lender directly than go through a broker.

A word on banks. If your business has clean financials and the property comfortably supports the loan, a bank will usually lend for longer and for less in total dollars, so it’s worth asking yours first. Aquamore and lenders like it come into their own when time, credit history or documentation rules the bank out.

How the broker-only process works

Because Aquamore deals only with intermediaries, the steps run through your broker:

1. Your broker submits a scenario online or through Aquamore’s business development managers. Aquamore says an application can be lodged before every document is in hand, with the gaps filled later.
2. Assessment. Aquamore aims to respond within 48 hours, while noting some applications take several business days.
3. Credit and pricing approval. Every loan is subject to formal credit and pricing approval, so the indicative terms you first hear can move.
4. Valuation, documents and settlement. A valuer inspects the security, the mortgage paperwork gets executed, and only then is money advanced.

If you don’t have a broker yet, read our broker vs direct lender comparison so you know what to ask about fees and commission.

Questions to put to Aquamore through your broker

• Adding up establishment, legal, valuation and any line or exit charges, how many dollars leave my business over the likely life of the loan?
• Will Aquamore hold a first or second mortgage, and must my current bank sign off on it?
• Is interest paid monthly or prepaid from the advance, and what net figure reaches my account on settlement day?
• If I repay in month six instead of month twelve, what do I save? Aquamore says it charges small businesses no repayment penalties, so get that in writing.
• Suppose the refinance or sale slips by a quarter. Can the term be extended, and what would that add?

Once you have offers from two lenders, the loan cost comparison calculator puts them side by side in dollar terms.

If Aquamore can’t help, where next?

A decline, or a deal that’s simply too small, usually points to the next door:

• Under $300k? A caveat loan or a smaller private second mortgage can work for amounts from about $20k.
• Nothing to offer as security? See business loans without property for unsecured and asset-backed routes.
• Credit or ATO problems? Our guide to bad credit business loans explains how private lenders weigh them.
• Waiting on a sale? Bridging finance is designed for the gap between buying and selling.

Comparable private lenders profiled here include Equity-One, a Melbourne mortgage fund that lends from $50k, and Private Mortgages Australia, which assesses mainly on equity and exit.

Not sure a broker-only lender is right for you?

Aquamore suits a particular kind of deal: sizeable, property-backed and arranged through an intermediary. Plenty of owners who land on this page actually need something smaller, quicker to arrange or secured differently, and the hard part is knowing which.

That sorting is our job. Expect to spend about sixty seconds on the form, and asking us costs your credit history nothing, since no check is run at enquiry. We keep what you send in-house instead of shopping it around a dozen funders, and one of our specialists reviews it personally before phoning. Give us honest figures for the property, what’s already owed on it and when you need the cash, and the first lender we suggest should be a genuine match.

Ask us which lender fits your deal →