Long term business loans: borrowing over five, ten years or longer

A long term business loan is borrowing you repay over many years — commonly five to ten, and longer when property secures it. The repayments are spread thinly enough that the business can carry the debt out of normal trading, which is the point: long loans fund things that keep earning for years.

Long term business loans are the foundation of most large business purchases in Australia — the warehouse, the second site, buying out a partner, consolidating a tangle of short facilities into one manageable repayment. They’re also the most demanding loans to qualify for, because the lender is committing to your business for a long stretch.

What is a normal business loan term length?

Business loan term length depends mainly on the security and the purpose. As a rough map of the Australian market:

Type of finance	Usual term range	What drives the term
Unsecured term loan	Months to a few years	Lender’s appetite without security
Equipment finance	Matched to the asset’s working life	How long the asset keeps its value
Property-secured term loan (non-bank)	A few years to long terms	Lender policy, LVR and exit
Bank loan secured by property	Long terms for established borrowers	Financials, security, relationship
Commercial property purchase	Long terms, often with periodic reviews	Property type and lease income

The pattern is simple: the less security, the shorter the term. Without property, very few lenders will go beyond about five years, because so much can change in a business over that time.

Who offers business loans over 10 years?

Business loans over 10 years mostly come from banks and established non-bank lenders, and they’re secured by a first mortgage over residential or commercial property. The RBA’s October 2025 Bulletin notes that new SME loans secured by residential property are on average about four and a half times the size of loans secured by other assets, such as the vehicles and equipment that back around half of small loans to SMEs — a sign of how heavily long, larger business borrowing leans on property.

• Major banks and regional banks offer the longest terms and sharpest pricing, but want lodged financials, a clean credit history and comfortable serviceability.
• Non-bank lenders can offer long terms with more flexible documentation, such as BAS or an accountant’s letter in place of the latest tax return, usually at a higher price.
• Private lenders rarely lend long. Their loans are short and built around an exit — often into one of the lenders above.

Some bank facilities have a long amortisation period but a shorter contractual term, with a review every few years. It’s worth asking whether your loan is truly long or simply repays as if it were.

Why choose a longer term?

You choose a longer term to make repayments fit comfortably inside cash flow. That matters more than ever: the RBA’s October 2026 Financial Stability Review found smaller businesses are already under more cash-flow pressure than larger ones. A longer term can turn an unaffordable repayment into a manageable one.

The trade-off is total cost. Stretching the same loan over twice the years roughly doubles the time you’re paying interest. That’s acceptable when the asset lasts as long as the loan — a building, a business with a long track record — and wasteful when it doesn’t.

How does term length change your repayments?

The quickest way to see the effect of term is to look at the principal alone, before any interest. On a $500,000 loan repaid in equal monthly instalments:

Term	Principal repaid each month (before interest)	Years of interest you pay
5 years	about $8,333	5
10 years	about $4,167	10
15 years	about $2,778	15
20 years	about $2,083	20

These figures are illustrative arithmetic only — real repayments add interest and fees, which depend on the lender and your circumstances. But the shape holds: going from five to ten years halves the principal portion of each repayment, while doubling the years over which interest runs. Each extra five years buys a smaller reduction in the monthly figure than the last, while the interest keeps adding up. That’s why the sweet spot is usually the shortest term the cash flow can carry comfortably, not the longest a lender will offer. The business loan calculator lets you test a lender’s quoted total cost across weekly, fortnightly or monthly repayments.

Ask yourself one question: will this purchase still be earning money for the business on the loan’s final repayment date? If yes, a long term is reasonable. If no, shorten it.

If you’d like a specialist to sense-check the term against your numbers, start an enquiry here — no credit check is run at that point.

How do lenders assess a long term business loan?

Lenders assess long loans more deeply than short ones because they’re betting on the next decade, not the next quarter. Expect them to look at:

1. Two years of financials and tax returns, plus current-year management accounts for larger loans.
2. Serviceability with a buffer — whether repayments still work if costs rise or revenue softens.
3. The security — a formal valuation, LVR and the property’s marketability.
4. Industry and concentration risk — reliance on one customer, or an industry the lender views as volatile. The RBA notes insolvencies remain elevated in hospitality, construction and transport, so expect closer questions in those sectors.
5. Directors and guarantors — credit history, other debts and personal assets.

A business plan for the loan with a cash flow forecast helps, particularly for an acquisition or expansion where the lender is funding future earnings.

Illustrative example: consolidating short debt into a long loan

Purely illustrative, no real business: a family-run engineering business is juggling three short facilities — an unsecured loan, a vehicle loan near its end and a credit card balance — with combined repayments of about $11,000 a month. Total balances come to around $260,000. The owners have a factory worth about $1,200,000 with a $400,000 bank loan.

A non-bank lender refinances the factory loan and consolidates the short debts into a single loan of around $660,000 secured by the factory, over a long term. Monthly repayments across the business drop substantially, freeing cash for wages and stock. The owners accept that they’ll pay more interest over the life of the loan than if they’d ground the short debts down, and plan extra repayments in strong years to claw some of that back. The refinancing business debt page explores this trade-off further.

What should you check in a long term loan offer?

Long contracts hide their details in the fine print. Before signing, check:

• Contract term versus amortisation — when the lender can review or call the loan.
• Fixed or variable pricing, and how break costs are calculated on a fixed loan. Our guide to paying a business loan off early explains break costs.
• Interest-only periods and what repayments become afterwards.
• Covenants — financial ratios or reporting requirements you must meet each year.
• Review clauses — what triggers a lender reassessment and what can change.
• Fees — establishment, ongoing account fees, valuation and legal costs.

Is a long term business loan right for you?

It’s right when the purpose is long-lived, the business is established, and there’s property to secure it. It’s usually wrong for stock, a seasonal gap or a one-off bill — a short term business loan or a line of credit suits those better. And if you’re not sure which length you need, start with the business loans hub, which lines up every loan type by what it’s for.

Thinking long term? Let’s see what fits

If you’re funding something that will earn for years and have property behind the business, a long term business loan could keep repayments comfortable while you grow. Check your eligibility in a minute. Asking doesn’t touch your credit file, your enquiry isn’t handed to a queue of lenders, and an experienced person looks at your situation directly. Give us accurate figures on the property, existing loans and turnover, and we’ll match you properly the first time.