Private mortgages in Australia: how they work in every state

A private mortgage over a factory in Townsville and one over a shopfront in Hobart are the same loan in every way that matters to you: the same lender, the same decision on equity and exit, the same open terms. What changes at the state border is the paperwork underneath: who keeps the land register, which forms must go through an electronic network and, in Canberra, the fact that land isn’t freehold at all. This page covers the Australia-wide picture. If you want to know which type of private mortgage fits your property, start with our private mortgages page instead.

Who uses private mortgages in Australia?

Private lending is no longer a fringe corner of finance. In September 2025, ASIC described Australia’s private credit sector as worth about $200 billion and called on the industry to lift standards as it grows. Property-secured business loans are one part of that market.

The business owners who use a private mortgage tend to share a profile rather than a postcode:

• they own property with real equity, personally or through a company or trust;
• they need money faster than a bank works, or for a reason a bank won’t fund;
• they can point to how the loan will be repaid, usually within months.

Builders in Western Sydney, transport operators in regional Queensland and medical practices in Adelaide all show up for the same reasons: ATO debts, settlement deadlines, refinances and growth. If you want the history of the sector and how lenders are funded, our guide on private credit in Australia covers it.

How does registration work under the Torrens system?

Every state and territory uses a version of the Torrens system, which the Victorian registry notes began in South Australia in 1858. The idea is simple: the government register is the record of who owns land and what interests sit over it. Victoria’s register, for example, shows the owner, a description of the land and any encumbrances such as mortgages, caveats and leases on each folio.

For a private mortgage, that means:

1. Your solicitor and the lender’s solicitor prepare a mortgage on the national form.
2. It is lodged with the registry in the state where the property sits, usually electronically.
3. Once registered, it appears on the title and ranks according to its position.
4. When the loan is repaid, a discharge is lodged and the mortgage comes off the title.

A caveat loan works differently: the lender lodges a caveat to protect its interest rather than registering a mortgage. The difference, and why it matters for speed, is covered on our caveat loans page.

How do the states compare?

Here is what was confirmed on official registry pages at the time of writing. Where we couldn’t verify a detail from an official source, we’ve left it out rather than guess.

State or territory	Who keeps the register	Electronic lodgement	Worth knowing
New South Wales	Office of the Registrar General’s Torrens Title Register	All land dealings, caveats and priority notices electronic since 11 October 2021	Certificates of title were abolished on the same day
Victoria	Registrar of Titles, under the Transfer of Land Act 1958	Mortgages and caveats lodged through an electronic network such as PEXA, usually registered very soon after	All new certificates of title electronic from 3 August 2024
Queensland	Titles Queensland	Mortgages, releases and caveats mandated electronic from 20 February 2023, unless an exemption applies	Exemptions need a paper exemption request
Western Australia	Landgate, under the Transfer of Land Act 1893	Eligible stand-alone mortgages electronic since 1 December 2018	A mortgage operates as a charge, not a transfer of the land
South Australia	Lands titles registry under the Real Property Act 1886, with Land Services SA	Caveat removals and withdrawals lodged through an electronic network	Birthplace of the Torrens system
ACT	ACT land titles, under a leasehold system	Not covered here	Land is held on Crown leases, typically 99 years for homes
Northern Territory	Land Titles Office, under the Land Title Act 2000	Practitioners can lodge caveats electronically or on paper	The Registrar-General removes lapsed caveats

Our caveat lapsing notices by state guide goes deeper into how each registry treats caveats.

Why does the ACT need a different conversation?

Canberra is the outlier. ACT Planning describes leasehold as the territory’s system of land tenure: you hold a Crown lease rather than freehold, and residential leases are typically granted for 99 years. Two points matter for a private mortgage:

• Permitted purpose. Land and buildings may only be used for a purpose the lease authorises. For commercial security, we check that the current use matches.
• Development obligations. A lease that still carries building covenants, such as a block that must be built on within a set period, is treated differently from a completed property.

Neither stops a loan. They are simply checked early, so they don’t surface at settlement. Our Canberra page has more on lending in the ACT.

Does the state change the lending decision?

No. The assessment is the same from Darwin to Hobart:

• Equity: up to 80% of value on residential security and up to 70% on commercial, lower on large acreage, less what is already owing.
• Value: we assess it ourselves, so there’s no formal valuation to arrange in any state.
• Exit: a sale, refinance, contract payment or refund that repays the loan.
• Credit: bad credit, defaults and ATO debt are considered, never disqualifying on their own.

Location affects how a property sells, which feeds into how comfortable the exit looks. A warehouse in a busy metropolitan estate and a specialised building in a small town are different propositions, wherever the state line falls. For a quick view of your own numbers, the 60-second loan check asks for the property’s location up front.

Illustrative example: one borrower, two registries

A Gold Coast logistics company needs $600k to buy a competitor’s fleet and contracts. The director owns a debt-free townhouse on the Gold Coast and half of a leased industrial unit in Perth, held through a family trust.

Illustrative only: a first mortgage is registered over the townhouse with Titles Queensland, and a second mortgage behind the existing bank loan is lodged with Landgate over the Perth unit, signed by the trustee. Both are lodged electronically and settle on the same day. The company repays when it refinances the combined business with a bank 12 months later, and both mortgages are discharged.

The state differences added a few documents (a trust deed for the WA property, a bank consent), not a different loan.

Private lending in your city

Our location pages cover local property markets, the industries we see most and how each state’s registry handles caveats and duty:

• Sydney and Western Sydney
• Melbourne and Geelong
• Brisbane, Gold Coast and Sunshine Coast
• Perth and Adelaide
• Hobart and Tasmania, Canberra and Darwin
• Regional and rural property

If your interest is second mortgages specifically, our second mortgages Australia page covers that path nationally.

Property anywhere in Australia? See if you qualify

It doesn’t matter which state your property is in, or whether your business trades from somewhere else. Tell us where the property is, what is owing on it, how much you need and how you’ll repay, and a specialist will work through the rest, registry and all.

The check takes about a minute, and there’s no credit check just for asking, so your file stays untouched while you find out. Your enquiry goes to one direct lender, not shopped around to a list of funders. A real person reads it and calls you. Give accurate figures so the answer you get reflects your actual property and debt.

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