Clearing a CGT Bill on a Clovelly Investment Sale Before It Settles

Capital gains tax has a habit of falling due before the money that pays for it arrives, so if your company or trust has sold an investment property and the assessment lands while the next settlement is still months away, you can usually borrow against a property you still own to clear the ATO now and repay us out of the sale proceeds, which is a lot less painful than discounting an asset to hit a lodgement date.

Key facts for Clovelly (2031), 12 months to September 2026

• Median four-bedroom house: $6.65 million across 23 sales. Three-bedroom: $5.03 million across 10 sales.
• Median two-bedroom apartment: $1.8 million across 28 sales.
• Auction clearance on four-bedroom houses: 74%. Five-bedroom: 54%. Two-bedroom units: 56%.
• Domain publishes no average days on market for Clovelly houses: sale volumes are too thin.
• 61% of Clovelly's 4,752 residents are owner-occupiers.
• Sydney house values fell 3.3% in the June 2026 quarter, the first quarterly fall in three and a half years.

Can you borrow against a property to pay a capital gains tax bill?

Yes, provided the borrowing is for business or investment purposes and the total debt against the property stays inside the limit. We'll go to 75% of value on residential security, counting your existing bank loan and ours together, over terms from 6 to 36 months, and in practice it's raising the money behind a bank loan you don't want to touch so the CGT gets paid without the first mortgage being disturbed.

A capital gains liability sitting behind an investment sale is one of the more common reasons we get called, because the ATO isn't a patient creditor and unpaid CGT can complicate a settlement or a refinance later on. The borrower has to be a company, a trust with a corporate trustee, an SMSF, or an individual where the loan isn't regulated by the National Credit Act.

A worked Clovelly example

Say a trust owns a four-bedroom Clovelly investment house worth about $6.65 million with $2.4 million owing to a bank, it sold a different investment property earlier in the year, and the CGT assessment of roughly $1.75 million is due well before the Clovelly contract it has just exchanged on reaches settlement.

There's enough room under the cap to absorb a conservative valuation on a house in a suburb where very few comparable sales exist, and the bank facility underneath doesn't move and doesn't get repaid, so nothing about the existing arrangement has to be renegotiated to get the tax paid.

The exit here is the settlement of the sale, and because that's a contract rather than a hope, it's the kind of exit we can actually test, though we'd still want the term written long enough that a purchaser asking for an extension is an inconvenience rather than a default.

How long would it take to sell in Clovelly?

Domain publishes no days on market figure for Clovelly houses because too few of them trade, so clearance is all there is to go on, and 74% on four-bedroom houses is genuinely strong for 2026.

That's a reason for confidence but not a reason to size the term tightly, because Sydney values fell 3.3% in the June 2026 quarter, city clearance dropped to 48%, and a record 29.3% of auctions were withdrawn, so if the repayment depends on a sale rather than one that's already exchanged, plan on six months and write the facility to twelve or eighteen.

What actually settles here

Nothing settled privately against a Clovelly property in the 90 days to August 2026, but thirteen loans settled across the eastern suburbs in that window at a median 75% LVR, running anywhere from $146,910 to $7,148,750, where the smallest of those is somebody clearing a bill and the largest is a substantial property position.

Nationally there were 196 in the same 90 days, 82% of them secured by residential property at a median loan of $765,500, and the purposes were mostly ordinary, with 55 refinances, 42 purchases, 39 working capital lines, 26 for business investment and 10 debt consolidations. A CGT bill usually turns up inside one of those last few categories rather than as a line item of its own.

What Vía Private lends on

What we will not do

We don't do consumer credit regulated by the National Credit Act, so a personal tax debt secured against the home you live in isn't something we can help with, and we'll say so early. We don't fund construction or development, and we don't lend against vacant land or pre-DA sites. Beyond that, we won't lend where there's no credible exit, and we won't lend against a valuation we haven't tested ourselves.

Questions people ask

Can I borrow against an investment property to pay a capital gains tax bill? Yes, where the borrower is a company, trust or SMSF and the liability arises from business or investment activity. The facility is secured by mortgage over the property and repaid from the sale proceeds or a refinance.

Does the ATO have to agree to it? No. The loan is a private arrangement secured against your property, and the ATO is simply paid out. Your existing bank does need to consent to a second mortgage being registered behind its facility.

How quickly can it be done? Settlement depends on the valuation, the bank's consent to a second mortgage and the legal work.

How long does it take to sell a house in Clovelly? Domain publishes no days on market figure for Clovelly houses because sale volumes are too low. Auction clearance was 74% on four-bedroom houses over the 12 months to September 2026. Allow six months for a campaign.

What happens if the sale that repays the loan falls over? The facility is extended or refinanced and interest keeps accruing on a larger balance, so the exit is the part to stress test before signing. Ask for the rollover fee and the default margin up front.

Getting a Clovelly scenario looked at

Most of the scenarios we see come through accredited mortgage brokers, so if you're already working with one, send them this page and they can put it to us. If you'd rather come to us first, email begin@viaprivate.com.au with the property, the amount you need, what it's for and how you plan to repay it.

Nearby: Bronte · Coogee · South Coogee · North Bondi · Woollahra

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Figures are indicative and for illustration only. Median values are Domain suburb data for the 12 months to September 2026. Market commentary is from the Domain House Price Report, June quarter 2026. Settlement counts are from a private lending panel covering 196 mortgages funded nationally in the 90 days to August 2026. Transfer duty is calculated at Revenue NSW 2026-27 rates. Vía Private lends to companies, trusts and SMSFs for business and investment purposes only and does not provide consumer credit regulated by the National Credit Act. This page is general information and does not take your objectives or circumstances into account. Last reviewed 13 September 2026.