Borrowers whose interest-only or fixed period is ending
Some commercial borrowers refinance because they want to. This one moves because a date is coming: an interest-only period, a fixed period or the facility term itself is about to expire, and either the repayment or the approval changes when it does.
This enquiry is deadline-driven. The borrower already owns commercial property and already has a facility on it, and something about that facility expires on a known date: the interest-only period inside a longer loan, a fixed period rolling off, or the term itself. A letter from the incumbent usually triggers the search, and the borrower arrives with the date but no clear idea which of the three is ending.
That makes it one of the more workable files in commercial refinance: the security, the repayment history and the financials all exist, and there is a reason to act by a fixed point rather than 'sometime this year'. What it turns on is timing, because the incumbent almost always offers something to keep the debt and you are competing with staying put.
Three different events arrive wearing the same sentence. An interest-only period ending inside a longer term means the loan starts amortising: same lender, same facility, a repayment that steps up on a set date. A fixed period ending means the facility reprices onto the lender's current structure, which needs no new approval but lands on a borrower who has not budgeted for it. A term expiring is the serious one: the debt becomes contractually due, so the borrower needs a new approval rather than a variation. Borrowers call all three 'my loan is up', and how the refinance actually runs is different for each.
The people behind them are rarely first-time borrowers: a trading business that bought its premises and fixed for certainty, an investor holding an industrial unit on interest-only while the tenancy did the work, a family entity with assets financed at different times and now expiring within months of each other.
A distinct slice took non-bank or private credit money when the deal needed to happen quickly, often on a shorter term than a bank would have written. Those files are the least optional. A borrower whose interest-only period ends still has a loan the next morning; one whose term expires with a lender that will not extend has a repayment date instead.
The wording is consistent enough that it sorts the file for you before any document arrives.
- "My interest-only period finishes in March." Amortisation is starting. The real question is whether the repayment can stay where it is, which is an extension conversation before it is a refinance.
- "I fixed it three years ago and it's rolling off." A repricing, not a new approval. The incumbent's revert position is the only offer in front of them.
- "They want it repaid or re-documented." Term expiry: a hard date, no default position to fall back on, and the shortest runway of the three.
- "I have two facilities coming up a few months apart." A consolidation question. Whether the securities can sit together, and whether the borrower wants them to, is most of the deal.
Sorting the enquiry into the right expiry is the first call's job, the same discipline as any other commercial loan lead you buy.
Which date, and how many weeks
Amortisation start, repricing and contractual expiry are three different files; ask for the lender's letter rather than the borrower's summary. Then count the weeks, because time picks the panel: months of runway can go to a bank, weeks cannot.
What the incumbent has already put up
Most borrowers have a retention position or are waiting on one. You are competing with staying put, so find out what staying put looks like before you build the alternative.
Whether the file still looks like it did
Financials, tenancy and entity structure move between approvals. A lease expiring near the facility expiry changes the asset's story, and security spread across entities takes longer to untangle than anyone expects.
Serviceability once principal starts
If the borrower cannot carry principal and interest, this is an extension, a restructure or a different lender, not a like-for-like move. Establish it before anyone pays for a valuation.
Appetite splits on time and on evidence. A standard asset class with a tenant in place, clean financials and a quarter of runway is a bank or second-tier file. Harder-to-evidence income, security spread across entities, or an expiry close enough that documentation timing decides the outcome pushes the file towards non-banks and private credit.
The backdrop is a business credit book still growing, up 10.8% year on year (RBA Financial Aggregates, July 2026). The expiries themselves come from something narrower. Australia's private credit market is now roughly $225bn (The Adviser, August 2026) and commercial property is part of what it funds; debt written outside the banks tends to run shorter terms and firmer expiry dates than a bank facility, so it comes back to market more often. Liquidity has tightened too: some Australian real-estate credit funds gated redemptions during July and August 2026 (trade press, August 2026), which makes an extension from the incumbent less of a formality. The wider picture sits in commercial refinance in 2026.
Interest-only and fixed-period expiries arrive inside our commercial property refinance leads, a flow that runs $1M to $10M+, and inside the broader commercial finance leads mix. Every enquiry has the mobile confirmed by SMS code before the lead ships, with automated scoring and a human qualification review behind it. Each one is sold once, to one broker, and never resold: pay per lead, no lock-in contracts, no setup fees, delivered to your inbox or CRM in real time.