Archive for the UK Commercial Finance Category

The UK has just 0.82 square feet of self storage per person, compared with 5.8 square feet in the US – a gap that tells you how much genuine room this sector still has to grow, and exactly why institutional investors including QuadReal, Sirius Real Estate, and PGIM have been actively financing UK platform expansion through 2026. Storage, schools, warehouses, and retail units rarely get the attention pubs or offices do, but each offers genuinely distinct financing opportunities worth understanding properly. Self Storage: A Market With Genuine Room to Grow Our Storage Unit Mortgages page covers this sector in detail – debt appetite remains genuinely strong, with growing competition between banks and alternative lenders supporting a broad range of borrowers, even as margins tighten across the sector through 2026. Why Converting Existing Buildings Into Storage Isn't Always Straightforward Most storage schemes start with an existing warehouse, trade counter unit, or industrial building, and self-storage often falls into B8 planning use class discussions, but local authorities rarely stop at the use class label alone – they'll genuinely assess access, servicing, hours, frontage, and neighbour impact. It's worth checking existing lawful use and planning history properly before committing to a conversion project,Read more →

Going-concern businesses consistently sell at 20-40% higher multiples than distressed or asset-only sales – a genuine reflection of how differently trading businesses are valued and financed compared with standard commercial property. If you're buying a pub, petrol station, guest house, hotel, or care home, understanding this valuation method properly matters more than almost anything else in the transaction. Why This Is Genuinely a Different Kind of Purchase Buying a trading business that comes with property isn't the same transaction as buying commercial premises to occupy or let. A going-concern valuation values the property and the operating business as a single combined asset, rather than valuing the real estate on its own – and it's this combined figure a lender actually sizes your loan against, not simply the bricks and mortar. How Going-Concern Valuation Actually Works Rather than comparing your target property against similar sales, a valuer building a going-concern figure reads the adjusted net profit, the income mix, and the tenure together, capitalising the business's genuine trading performance into a single valuation. This is exactly why clean, well-organised trading accounts matter so much before you even order a valuation – thin or poorly documented financial records are consistently where theseRead more →

Standard commercial mortgage lenders assess offices, retail units, and warehouses without much hesitation. Ask them about a petrol station, a working farm, or a franchise premises, and the conversation genuinely changes – specialist sectors typically carry a 1-3% rate premium over standard commercial property, precisely because they need lenders who actually understand the underlying business, not just the bricks and mortar. Why "Niche" Doesn't Mean "Unfinanceable" A meaningful and growing pattern in UK commercial lending is fragmentation into specialist niches, where underwriting is genuinely tailored to the specific sector rather than applied generically. This is good news if your property falls into one of these categories – it means dedicated lenders exist specifically for your situation, rather than you having to force an unusual asset through criteria built for a standard office. Petrol Stations Our Petrol Station Mortgages page covers this genuinely specialist category in depth – most mainstream lenders won't touch forecourts at all, given the environmental liability underground tanks carry, meaning a small, dedicated panel of lenders handles the vast majority of this market. Working Farms Our Farm & Agricultural Commercial Mortgages page covers financing a genuine working farm business, distinct from a residential property that simply comesRead more →

Commercial property can genuinely deliver stronger yields and more stable income than residential buy-to-let – UK commercial property returned 8.7% in total in the year to August 2025, combining rental income with capital growth – but only if you avoid the mistakes that catch out most first-time commercial investors. Here's what genuinely matters before you make your first purchase. The First Genuine Decision: Occupier or Investor Before anything else, it's worth being clear about which category describes your actual plan. Our Occupier Mortgages page covers buying premises to trade from yourself, assessed against your own business's financial performance. Our Investment Mortgages page covers buying to let to a separate business tenant, assessed instead against the rental income the property genuinely generates. These are fundamentally different assessments, and it's worth knowing which one applies to you before you start looking at properties seriously. Why You're Genuinely Buying the Lease as Much as the Building For investment purchases specifically, the strength of the existing tenant's lease – how long it runs, the tenant's financial covenant, any upcoming rent reviews or break clauses – is central to both the property's genuine value and how a lender will assess your application. A building letRead more →

Weak Pound Fuels Rich Foreign Investors’ Rush To Buy Student Flats Student numbers may be declining but foreign investors are lining up to buy Plymouth’s student flats with one block already being snapped up by a Middle Eastern consortium in a multi-million pound deal. The Coombestone House block, in Hastings Street, was bought by Qatari investors, according to industry insiders, earlier this year and other investors from the oil-rich nation are investigating opportunities in the city. Meanwhile a company from Singapore paid £180million for five huge Plymouth student apartment blocks which were offloaded by Unite. And two other blocks are said to have been gobbled up for “more than £1million” according to industry sources. Other properties are owned by businesses from Malaysia and South Africa, among others, and delegations from Kuwait, Israel, Spain and China are sniffing around the city. Nationally wealth funds and investors are snaffling property left, right and centre, despite Brexit uncertainty and global trade wars. But the reason for this activity is likely to be Brexit related – a huge decline in asset prices since the referendum vote. Sterling devaluation has made properties throughout the UK, including Plymouth, an attractive proposition. Henry Hutchins, chief executive ofRead more →

Attracting Investment For Property Oliver du Sautoy, head of research at LSH, believes what we have seen this year will be a tough act to follow, but is optimistic for future growth. “Healthy levels of active demand and an analysis of forthcoming lease events point to another year of above-trend activity and take-up across the region in 2018,” he said. “Investors and developers must therefore take heed of the rapidly changing dynamics within the Northern Powerhouse office markets if we are to continue to support home-grown businesses and attract greater inward investment. “Solid asset management strategies and refurbishment of poorer quality stock will be key to securing the best occupiers and boosting returns in the coming 12-18 months.” There is a lack of supply in the regions – total availability has shrunk by 12% since the start of this year – and this has encouraged “steep increases in rental levels for existing space in some markets”, according to the LSH report. This could result in more opportunities for developers looking to bridge the supply and demand gap, as well as higher yields for investors. There are almost four million British people live abroad according to the latest figures from the Office for NationalRead more →