Archive for the UK Development Finance Category

On a £1.5 million outstanding development loan at 0.95% per month, moving to an exit facility at 0.55% per month saves roughly £6,000 every single month the units remain unsold. With three in five homes listed since January 2026 still unsold across the wider market, and off-plan sales at a twelve-year low, this decision genuinely matters more right now than it has in years – but refinancing isn't automatically the right answer for every developer approaching completion. Why This Decision Genuinely Arrives Whether You're Ready or Not A development facility is structured around a construction programme with an expected repayment date, and the build can finish successfully while sales or refinancing takes genuinely longer than anticipated. Once your loan term approaches its cap, your original lender wants the facility redeemed regardless of where your sales actually stand – which is exactly why this decision needs proper thought well before it becomes urgent. Option One: A Short Extension From Your Existing Lender It's worth genuinely comparing a short extension against a full refinance before assuming exit finance is automatically the right move. If your existing lender offers a three-month extension at a modest fee, and you're genuinely confident of selling sufficientRead more →

A parcel of land worth £30,000 without planning permission can genuinely become worth £200,000 once consent is granted – which is exactly why so much of the real decision in land buying happens before you ever pour a foundation. Understanding how land is financed, and how planning status transforms its value, matters more than almost anything else if you're considering buying a plot to build on. Serviced vs Unserviced: The Genuine First Decision A serviced plot already has planning permission granted and mains water, electricity, drainage, and road access connected to its boundary, often just weeks from starting on site. An unserviced plot is raw land with neither permission nor connections, typically 80-90% cheaper to buy but requiring 18-24 months of planning and infrastructure work before you can put a spade in the ground. Neither is automatically the right choice – a serviced plot trades cost for speed and certainty; an unserviced plot trades time and risk for genuinely lower entry cost. The Genuine Rule-of-Thumb Worth Knowing Many successful self-build projects roughly balance as a third land cost, a third build cost, and a third equity created – so a finished home worth £600,000 might reasonably involve around £200,000 inRead more →

Most developers ask "what loan-to-value can I get?" when the more useful question is "how is my project's capital stack genuinely structured?" A £500,000 project offered 70% loan-to-value sounds straightforward, but that figure alone tells you almost nothing about whether the rest of your funding gap can actually be filled affordably. The Capital Stack, From Bottom to Top Every development is funded through layers, each with a genuinely different risk profile and position in the repayment order if things go wrong. Senior debt sits at the bottom, repaid first and carrying the lowest risk and lowest rate. Mezzanine or stretched senior sits above it, repaid next, priced higher to reflect that added risk. Your own equity sits at the top, the riskiest capital, and the last to be repaid, but also the most flexible. Senior Debt: The Foundation Our Senior Debt page covers this first-charge layer in detail. In 2026, senior development finance for experienced developers typically prices between 6.5% and 9.5% per annum, with most lenders capping loan-to-Gross-Development-Value at 60-65%. On a scheme with a £6 million GDV, a 65% cap means a maximum senior facility of £3.9 million, leaving a genuine funding gap most developers need to fillRead more →