Healthcare practice financing.
Medical, dental, veterinary and optometry clinics and pharmacies across BC and Alberta, from Metro Vancouver to Calgary and Edmonton. Two purchases, one plan — the practice AND the property it operates from, alongside the build-out, the equipment and the working capital.
Most clinicians finish training with a licence, a debt load, and no deposit — and assume that means waiting years before owning anything. It usually doesn't. For licensed physicians, dentists, veterinarians, optometrists and pharmacists, practice purchase and start-up are commonly financed to 100% of project cost, with the equipment, the build-out, the first year's working capital, a revolving operating line and a corporate credit card arranged in the same structure. And the practice is only half of it: the space it operates from can be bought too, financed alongside the practice or on its own once you're established. The question worth asking early isn't whether you can afford the down payment. It's whether the practice you're looking at carries the debt that buys it — and that is a question with a number behind it.
As of October 16, 2026, licensed physicians, dentists, veterinarians, optometrists and pharmacists in BC and Alberta commonly finance a practice purchase or start-up to 100% of project cost, most often with no down payment: the practice, equipment and build-out are written over about 12 years, the real estate over 25 years and sometimes 30, with 1–2 years of interest-only at the start; on a variable rate the facility is fully open with no penalty, on a fixed rate it is closed with a blended amortization. A standard owner-occupied commercial mortgage, by comparison, usually funds to about 75–80% of the building’s value, on the same 25-year amortization, sometimes 30, with the same open-on-variable, closed-on-fixed rule, and it is carried by 2 to 3 years of financials and your personal net worth rather than by your licence.
| Term | Standard commercial | Healthcare program |
|---|---|---|
| Down payment | Standard commercialUsually 20–25%, less on strong files | Healthcare programCommonly none |
| How much of the project is financed | Standard commercialTo about 75–80% of the building’s value | Healthcare programCommonly 100% of project cost |
| Real estate | Standard commercialUsually 25 years, sometimes 30 | Healthcare programUsually 25 years, sometimes 30 |
| Practice, equipment, build-out | Standard commercialSeparate equipment and leasehold loans | Healthcare programWritten over about 12 years |
| Opening period | Standard commercialAmortizes from the first payment | Healthcare program1–2 years interest-only |
| Prepayment | Standard commercialVariable: fully open, no penalty. Fixed: closed, blended amortization. | Healthcare programVariable: fully open, no penalty. Fixed: closed, blended amortization. |
| What carries the file | Standard commercial2 to 3 years of financials and your personal net worth | Healthcare programYour licence first, then 2 to 3 years of financials or projections; net worth counts for less |
The terms this category commonly reaches, not a quote — and “commonly” is doing real work. Some lenders will finance 100% of the building and still ask for a contribution against the goodwill and the leaseholds. What lands on your own file is confirmed to you in writing before you are asked to commit to anything. The standard column is the conventional owner-occupied commercial mortgage as published on our owner-occupied commercial page.
The first stop there is the practice-acquisition estimator and the desk's six other clinic calculators, which size the whole project, the practice and the premises together, before anyone applies.
Case Studies — files like this
Why this file belongs here: a North Shore clinic where about $1.8 million of separate facilities, for the property, the build-out, operating credit and a corporate card, carried a $770,000 premises purchase with no down payment. The same package shape this page describes.
The practices we finance most often.
The 7 most common are below. The practice desk has a page for every healthcare profession we finance.
Family practice, walk-in, specialist and multi-physician clinics — buying in, buying out, or opening the first location.
General and specialist dentistry — associate buy-ins, full practice purchases, and de novo builds fitted out from bare shell.
Independent retail pharmacy, banner locations and clinic-attached dispensaries — purchase, relocation or expansion.
Companion-animal, mixed and emergency practices, including the surgical and imaging equipment that comes with them.
Eye-care practices and dispensaries — exam lanes, diagnostic imaging and optical retail, bought or built from scratch.
Clinic purchases, associate buy-ins and cold starts. A harder file than the five above — far fewer lenders write it — so leverage is decided on your own numbers rather than a program.
Clinic purchases, partner buy-ins and cold starts. Like chiropractic, written by far fewer lenders, so what a lender will do is settled on your file rather than by a published program.
Everything the practice needs, funded together.
Split across separate applications, these pieces arrive at different times on different terms — and the one that doesn't land is the one that stops you opening. Arranged as a single structure, they don't.
The clinic space itself — a medical or dental strata unit, a standalone building, or the ground floor you already lease. Financed alongside the practice, or on its own later, so rent turns into equity you keep.
Buying an existing book of patients, or a share of one — the goodwill, charts and going concern that make it a practice rather than a room.
Operatories, plumbing, lead-lined rooms, cabinetry, HVAC and everything else that turns bare space into a clinic that passes inspection.
Chairs, imaging, sterilization, lab and surgical equipment, practice-management software and the servers behind it.
The months before the schedule fills — payroll, supplies, insurance, licensing and marketing, funded rather than absorbed personally.
A revolving line and a corporate credit card beside the term debt, so receivables timing and a slow month never become a personal-credit problem.
The practice is one purchase. The property is the other.
Almost every clinician we work with is buying a business. Far fewer realize they can buy the space it runs in — and that the two can be financed together, or one after the other, by the same broker who already knows the file.
The strata unit or ground floor your clinic occupies today is often the cleanest purchase you'll ever make — you know the location works, the patients know the address, and the fit-out is already yours.
Premises rent is the largest fixed cost most practices never stop paying, and it can rise at every renewal. Owning converts that payment into equity in an asset you keep after you stop practising.
A clinic's value is tied to its address. Owning removes the renewal negotiation, the relocation clause, and the risk of being moved on once your patient base is established.
The property is frequently held in a separate company that leases to the practice. We structure the financing around whatever you and your accountant decide, rather than forcing the ownership to suit the lender.
Medical and dental strata, standalone clinics and mixed-use ground floors each carry their own lender appetite. Purpose-built space with plumbing, lead shielding and parking is not generic retail, and shouldn't be underwritten as if it were.
The practice debt and the mortgage have to coexist — each affects what the other will carry. Arranged by the same person, they're sized against one another instead of colliding at the second application.
Both work. Some files close the practice and the premises together, so the whole project is underwritten as one plan. Others buy the practice first, build two or three years of clinic financials, then buy the building — often the same unit they've been renting. What matters is that the second purchase is anticipated in the first, so the practice debt is structured with room for a mortgage rather than against it. That is a conversation to have at the start, not at renewal.
They also run on different clocks, which is what makes carrying both realistic: the real estate can be amortized over as much as 25 years, while the practice, equipment and build-out are commonly written over about 12. Add the year or two of interest-only that is usually available at the start, and the most expensive months of the ramp-up are the cheapest ones to get through.
Three lanes, depending on the practice.
This is the part most new practice owners do not realize is available: the down payment they were saving toward is usually not required at all — usually, not always, and the piece a lender is most likely to want a contribution against is the goodwill and the leaseholds rather than the building. Capital that would have been locked into a deposit stays where it belongs — carrying the practice through its first year.
Rent is the largest fixed cost most clinics never stop paying. Buying the space converts it into equity in an asset you control — and removes the risk of a landlord who declines to renew once your patients know the address.
Pharmacies reach the same 100% as the other four professions, but they price a little higher, and where a file lands depends on volume, banner arrangements and location. Ask for your own number in writing rather than working off a general figure.
Structures described here are typical patterns for illustration — last reviewed October 16, 2026 — and practice financing is written file by file; every figure is confirmed in writing before you rely on it. If you're also buying the premises, the mechanics are on our owner-occupied commercial page, and equipment specifics live with our equipment financing partners.
- Prime rate today: 4.45% (Bank of Canada, as of October 28, 2026)
- Bank of Canada policy rate: 2.25% (as of October 28, 2026)
- Next Bank of Canada decision: December 9, 2026, 9:45 a.m. ET
What practice owners ask first.
Is it really possible to buy a practice with no down payment?+
For licensed physicians, dentists, veterinarians, optometrists and pharmacists, practice purchase and start-up are commonly financed to 100% of project cost, so most of the time no down payment is required. Commonly is not always: some lenders will finance 100% against the building and still want a contribution against the goodwill and the leaseholds. Lenders treat the professional licence as the security a deposit would otherwise provide, because default rates in these professions are very low. The exact terms are confirmed in writing on your file before you commit to anything.
Can the equipment and the start-up costs go in the same financing?+
Yes, and they should. Practice purchase, leasehold build-out, equipment, working capital, a revolving operating line and a corporate credit card are arranged together as one package rather than as separate applications to separate places. One structure, one set of covenants, and no gap where a piece of the project turns out to be unfunded.
How long is each piece paid off over?+
They are deliberately different. The real estate can be amortized over as much as 25 years, like any commercial mortgage — while the practice, equipment and build-out are commonly written over about 12, because that is the working life of what they buy. Splitting them that way keeps the combined monthly payment at a level a ramping practice can actually carry, instead of forcing the building onto a short amortization.
Can I pay interest only while the practice ramps up?+
Usually, yes — a year or two of interest-only at the start is common on these facilities. The point is cash flow: the months before the appointment book fills are when payroll, rent and supplies are heaviest and billings are lightest, so lowering the payment during exactly that window is what keeps the first year comfortable.
See it on a real file: About $1.8M Clinic Financing, Zero Down →
Is there a penalty if I pay it off early?+
On a variable rate, none: the facility is fully open, principal and interest, so you can pay down or clear any part of it, the real estate as well as the practice debt, whenever the practice is doing well. On a fixed rate it is closed, with a blended amortization, and that is the same rule on regular commercial lending. Confirmed in writing on your own file before you rely on it.
What is the operating line actually for?+
Timing. Receivables arrive later than payroll does, supplies are bought before they're billed, and a new practice's schedule fills gradually. A revolving line absorbs that gap, with a corporate credit card beside it for the day-to-day spend, so a slow month is a cash-flow event rather than a personal-credit event.
Does this work for a brand-new practice, not just buying an existing one?+
Both. An existing practice is underwritten on its demonstrated billings; a de novo build is underwritten on your designation, the location, and a defensible projection. Start-ups need a more detailed plan and a longer working-capital runway built into the request, which is exactly why the runway belongs in the financing rather than in your savings account.
Can I finance the practice and the clinic real estate at the same time?+
Yes — and it is one of the main reasons to bring the whole project to one broker. The practice financing and the mortgage on the premises have to coexist, because each affects what the other will carry. Sized together they work as one plan; sized separately, the second application is where people discover the first one used up the room.
Should I buy the clinic space or keep leasing?+
It depends on how long you intend to practise there and what the space costs to own versus rent. Owning removes renewal risk and converts your largest fixed cost into equity you keep after you stop practising; leasing preserves flexibility if the location is unproven. We model both before you sign either — and if you lease now, we structure the practice debt so buying the building in a few years stays open to you.
I'm a veterinarian or optometrist — are my terms the same?+
Yes. Everything on this page applies to veterinary and optometry practices the same way it applies to medical and dental — including the caveat that it is commonly 100% of project cost rather than always, and that a lender may want a contribution against the goodwill and leaseholds: 100% of project cost, the property financed alongside the practice, equipment and build-out included, an operating line and a corporate credit card beside it, interest-only available early, fully open on a variable rate and closed on a fixed one. Your licence carries the file in the same way.
I'm a pharmacist — what's different?+
The leverage is the same — pharmacies also commonly reach 100% of project cost with no down payment, with the same caveat that a lender may want a contribution against goodwill and leaseholds — but they price slightly higher than the other professions, and where your file lands depends on dispensing volume, banner or supplier arrangements and the location's catchment. Everything else on this page holds. We put your actual pricing in writing rather than quoting you a general figure.
Does buying a practice affect my ability to get a mortgage on a home?+
It changes the picture rather than closing it. Practice debt and personal guarantees show up in residential underwriting, but physician and dentist mortgage programs are built for exactly this situation — including projected income for those early in practice. Our dedicated physician desk at physicianmortgage.ca covers that side in depth.
Is there a site dedicated to practice financing?+
Yes — healthcarepracticefinancing.ca is our desk for exactly this: practice acquisition, the clinic real estate, equipment, build-out and working capital, with its own calculators for whether a deal qualifies, what a practice is worth and what the financing costs. Same broker and the same licences; it is one firm running a specialist desk for each kind of file. This page is the commercial overview, and the desk is where the subject is covered in full.
Practice in sight? Have these ready.
The earlier the financing is modelled, the more room there is to negotiate the purchase — and the less chance of discovering the equipment budget was never covered.
- Your professional licence and designation, and your CV or years in practice
- The practice's financials — last two to three years, plus year-to-date, if you're buying an existing one
- The purchase agreement or letter of intent, including what's goodwill and what's equipment
- Equipment list and quotes for anything new, with the build-out estimate if you're fitting out
- The premises — the lease with its term, renewal options and rent, or the purchase details and any appraisal if you're buying the space
- Your personal net worth statement and any student or professional debt
- A first-year plan: expected patient or client volume, staffing, and when you expect to be at capacity
- Your accountant's contact — practice financing is structured with them from day one
Buying a practice — or the building? Start with the numbers.
Send the practice's financials and your equipment and build-out estimates — and tell us whether the space comes with it. We'll model the whole package, premises, operating line and corporate card included, before you sign anything binding.
Buying a home as well? Our physician mortgage desk ↗ covers projected-income and low-down-payment programs for doctors and dentists early in practice.