Mortgages
Office, warehouse & industrial mortgages: owner-use and investment run on two playbooks
This page covers office and industrial property — office units, standalone office buildings, workshops, warehouses, industrial strata units. The first question is always the same: buying it to use, or buying it to rent out? The two paths differ in underwriting, documents and terms. The second reality: lender appetite for industrial and for office has diverged sharply these past years — the same down payment negotiates different outcomes. General mechanics are on the commercial overview page; this is what’s specific here.
Last updated 2026-09-01
Owner-use or investment? Answer that before anything else
Owner-user: your business moves in and operates, repayment comes from the business’s profit, and lenders underwrite the business — financials, industry, track record. Investor: you lease it out, repayment comes from rent, and lenders underwrite the leases and NOI/DSCR — the same skeleton as retail.
The same unit bought under the two identities negotiates differently. Owner-users often reach higher leverage — lenders know you will fight to keep your own premises. Investors live and die by lease quality.
There is a common in-between: your business uses part, the rest is rented. That gets classified by primary use, and how the ratio and rents are counted varies by lender — exactly the kind of detail worth a phone call first.
Owner-users: the business financials carry the file
Lenders usually want two-plus years of business financials — revenue, profit, debt-service capacity — plus a personal guarantee and credit. The steadier the business, the easier the property side gets.
The most underrated exercise when buying your own premises: translate rent into mortgage payments and compare. Money to a landlord is pure expense; part of every payment to the bank becomes your own equity. The precondition is cash flow that holds — I can put that comparison on one page for you.
Businesses with gross revenues of $10 million or less can also use the government-backed CSBFP for owner-occupied premises: term loans up to $1 million, floating rate capped at prime + 3%. Parameters and fit are on the business loans page.
Industrial: the asset class lenders like best right now
Warehousing, logistics and light industrial have real demand and low vacancy, and Metro Vancouver industrial space has been tight for years. An asset that resells easily makes lenders generous — industrial often earns the best tier of commercial leverage and pricing (still varying by lender).
Industrial strata units — strata-titled workshop or warehouse units — are the workhorse for small-business buyers: manageable price, good liquidity, banks know them well. Think of them, roughly, as the condos of the commercial world.
The thing to watch is historical use. A Phase I environmental assessment is nearly unavoidable on industrial land, and a heavy-use history (plating, chemicals, fuel storage) means Phase II and a longer clock. Before you look at the building, look at what the land used to do.
Office: doable, but the file has to tell its story
Since remote work, lenders read office more sceptically: location, building age and the tenant mix get questioned harder than before. Large floors of generic office space are the hardest story to tell; small, professional-use units are a different conversation.
Doctors, dentists, lawyers, accountants buying their own clinic or practice unit are, in fact, files lenders like: stable income, sticky clients, low default rates. These owner-user deals often negotiate very respectable terms.
Buying office to rent out? Lead with the leases: tenant industries, lease length, the building’s vacancy history. Tell the story clearly and the terms stop being scary.
The numbers: common ranges for leverage and amortization
Direction only — every lender and file differs: leverage commonly 50–75%, amortization 20–25 years. Industrial tends to land at the better end of the range; generic office sits conservative.
For investment files the loan amount comes from DSCR, same as any income property: NOI has to clear the bar first. For owner-user files it comes from the business’s debt-service capacity: strong statements, strong terms.
Rates run above residential, always. To know where your file lands, don’t guess — send me the numbers and you’ll have a range in ten minutes.
Documents, reports, timeline
Owner-users: two-plus years of business financials, corporate documents, personal net worth and credit. Investors: rent roll, leases, operating statements. Both need third-party reports: AACI appraisal, Phase I ESA (near-mandatory on industrial), building condition report.
Time: a few weeks when clean; two to three months if the environmental escalates or appraisals are backed up. Write subject periods to that reality.
Get the file package straight before it goes anywhere. Office and industrial lender lists barely overlap, and the same package is treated very differently door to door — the right door is the first productivity tool.
Common questions
Minimum down payment on an owner-used warehouse?
Commonly from 25–35%, lower with strong business financials or CSBFP in the mix (term loans up to $1 million). The business’s debt-service capacity is the main variable — send me two years of statements and we’ll run it on real numbers.
My business is barely two years old. Can I buy our unit?
Most lenders want two years of financials, and sitting right at the line is still workable: an upward trend, a stable industry and a thicker down payment all help. If it’s short by a breath, specialty lenders and CSBFP are the two fallbacks. Ten minutes on the phone before you decide to wait.
Industrial strata unit vs freestanding building on its own land — same financing?
No. Strata units are smaller-ticket, liquid and familiar to banks — friendlier thresholds and terms. Freestanding industrial is bigger money, heavier environmental and due diligence, and a smaller buyer pool, so terms run conservative. For a first industrial purchase, a strata unit is usually the smoother start.
Is buying office space to rent out still worth it?
The lender’s answer is “file by file, not class by class”: location, tenants and lease length decide everything. Small professional-use units and well-located medical buildings remain welcome; large generic office floors get the toughest read. Run the DSCR before you negotiate price — in that order.
Why can’t industrial deals skip the environmental assessment?
Because cleanup liability travels with the land, and industrial land has the highest odds of a sensitive history. Phase I (records review) is standard; only a flagged history escalates to Phase II (sampling). Put it in the budget and the timeline and it stops being a surprise.
Ten minutes tells you where you land
No credit check in the first step, and nothing to prepare first.
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