Structured Property Finance
Some projects genuinely don’t fit neatly into a single funding product – a mix of senior debt, additional leverage, and capital raised against other assets, all coordinated together to make a scheme work. Structured property finance is this bespoke approach, built around your specific project rather than a single off-the-shelf facility.
What Structured Property Finance Actually Means
Structured property finance describes a bespoke funding package assembled from multiple individual products, tailored to a specific project’s genuine requirements, rather than relying on a single standard facility. Where a straightforward development might be funded entirely through one senior debt facility, a more complex scheme might combine several elements – senior debt, mezzanine finance, equity release from an existing property, and sometimes contributions from more than one lender – into a single coordinated funding structure.
Why Some Projects Need This Approach
A project might need a structured approach where the scheme size, complexity, or your own financial position doesn’t fit comfortably within one lender’s standard criteria – a large mixed-use development, a portfolio of several linked sites, or a scheme where you’re raising part of your capital from an existing asset rather than fresh cash.
How This Draws on Everything Else in Our Development Finance Range
Structured property finance isn’t a single distinct product – it’s the coordinated combination of the products covered elsewhere in our development finance range, assembled specifically around your project. Our Senior Debt page covers the primary first-charge borrowing most structures are built around; our Stretched Senior Debt page covers a higher-leverage single-facility alternative; our Mezzanine Finance page covers top-up funding layered above senior debt; and our Development Exit Finance page covers switching onto cheaper terms once a scheme reaches practical completion.
Cross-Collateralisation: Using More Than One Asset
Some structured facilities draw security from more than one property – using equity in an existing asset you already own to help fund a new project, alongside the borrowing secured against the development site itself. This can genuinely increase your available leverage, though it also means more than one property is tied to the same lending relationship, worth weighing properly before committing.
Combining Development Finance With Investment Property
If your wider plans involve both a development project and an ongoing investment portfolio, our Portfolio Mortgages page covers structuring finance across multiple commercial holdings, worth considering alongside your development funding if you’re building out a broader property business rather than a single scheme.
Why This Requires Genuinely Specialist Broking
Structuring finance across multiple products and sometimes multiple lenders requires a genuinely detailed understanding of how each element interacts – how a mezzanine facility’s terms affect what a senior lender will offer, how cross-collateralised security is coordinated between charges, and how the overall structure holds together if one part of the project changes. This isn’t something to piece together from separate conversations with separate lenders; it’s worth working with a broker who can design the whole structure around your project from the outset.
Who Typically Needs This
Structured property finance commonly suits experienced developers managing larger or more complex schemes, investors combining a development project with an existing portfolio, and anyone whose funding requirement genuinely spans more than one type of borrowing – rather than first-time developers with a single, straightforward scheme, who are often better served by a single senior debt facility.
Getting Started
Because every structured facility is genuinely built around the specific project, there’s no fixed template to work from – it’s worth having a detailed conversation about your full plans, existing assets, and funding requirements from the outset, so the right combination of products can be identified before you approach individual lenders.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is structured property finance a single product?
No – it’s a bespoke combination of products, such as senior debt, mezzanine finance, and cross-collateralised security, assembled around a specific project’s requirements.
Why would I need a structured facility instead of a single loan?
When a project’s size, complexity, or your own financial position doesn’t fit comfortably within one lender’s standard criteria for a single product.
Can I use equity in a property I already own as part of the structure?
Yes, through cross-collateralisation, though this ties that property to the same lending relationship as your new project.
Does structured finance suit first-time developers?
Usually not – it’s more commonly suited to experienced developers managing larger or more complex schemes, or investors combining development with an existing portfolio.
Where do I start with a structured facility?
With a detailed conversation about your full plans and existing assets, so the right combination of products can be identified before approaching individual lenders.
Get in touch with details of your project and existing property holdings, and we’ll help you understand what a genuinely suitable structure could look like.
