Lendus.

Best Development Finance Lenders UK 2026

Every development finance lender on the Lendus panel, with the rate, scheme size, drawdown process and experience requirement each one publishes, plus 5 picks for specific jobs.

Last reviewed by the Lendus editorial team. Lendus is an introducer, not a lender.

200+ UK lenders
2-minute application
No credit check to apply
FCA-regulated brokers

Development finance funds construction or major conversion, released in staged drawdowns as work is signed off rather than as one lump sum. The lenders on this panel price it two different ways, per month as bridging is priced, or per year over the Bank of England base rate, and several publish no development rate at all even where they publish a bridging one. The table below records that rather than borrowing the bridging figure to fill the gap. Development lending to a company is generally unregulated business lending in the UK, which is why two of the picks below state plainly that they are not FCA authorised.

Our top picks

5 of the 11 panel lenders below, chosen for a specific job. Every figure in these cards is read from that lender's own record. The full panel follows.

Best for large schemes with an experienced developer

Atelier Finance

Atelier lends £3 million to £40 million and is one of the few lenders here that publishes a development rate, priced as the Bank of England base rate plus a margin of 4.99% to 6.99% per year that varies by product, loan to value and loan size. It publishes gearing of up to 90% loan-to-cost and 70% loan-to-gross-development-value, and covers residential, purpose-built student accommodation, build-to-rent and care. It targets professional developers with a track record of comparable completed schemes. Atelier Capital Partners Limited is not authorised by the Financial Conduct Authority: its loans are exempt agreements, and it is registered with the FCA for anti-money laundering purposes only, registration number 910090.

Facility
£3m to £40m
Published rate
BBR+4.99% to BBR+6.99%per year
Trading history
Not publicly stated as a fixed number of years. Atelier targets professional developers with a demonstrable track record of similar, completed developments.
Read full review
Best published development rate

CrowdProperty

CrowdProperty publishes 0.65% to 1.1% per month specifically for development finance, not borrowed from a bridging rate card, with arrangement fees typically 2% of the loan. It lends £200,000 to £10 million, gives indicative terms within 48 hours, a full credit decision within 2 weeks and drawdown from 4 weeks, and publishes no trading history requirement because development experience matters more to it than how long the company has existed. CrowdProperty Ltd is authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority, firm reference number 723959.

Facility
£200k to £10m
Published rate
0.65% to 1.1%per month
Trading history
None required, development experience is more important than trading history
Read full review
Best for first-time developers

Magnet Capital

Magnet Capital states that first-time developers can secure funding where the project is well structured, publishes loan-to-GDV up to 65% and loan-to-cost up to 90%, and lends £500,000 to £4 million. Its process is the differentiator: a decision in principle often within minutes of receiving the key project information, stage payments released within 48 hours of a site inspection, and 6 to 10 weeks from sign-up to completion. It publishes no rate, and interest is typically rolled up with an option to service monthly. Magnet Capital Limited states on its own website that it is authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority, firm reference number 827220.

Facility
£500k to £4m
Published rate
No public rate card
Trading history
No minimum trading history stated; Magnet Capital says first-time developers can secure funding if the project itself is well-structured
Read full review
Best for refurbishment and part-complete schemes

Avamore Capital

Avamore Capital quotes development finance from 6.75% per year plus the Bank of England base rate, lends £250,000 to £25 million, and states that refurbishment finance is often approved within 24 hours. It covers ground-up, part-complete, refurbishment and purpose-built student accommodation, states that development finance is available to less experienced developers, and is flexible on personal guarantees and overseas resident borrowers. Avamore states on its own website that it is not FCA-authorised and provides unregulated loans to corporate entities and private individuals, which is common for this kind of lending and means the FCA-regulated consumer protections do not apply.

Facility
£250k to £25m
Published rate
From 0.56%as the lender publishes it, see profile
Trading history
No minimum trading history is published. Avamore lends against the property or development scheme and exit strategy rather than the borrower's or company's trading track record, and states that development finance is available to less experienced developers.
Read full review
Best for the largest residential schemes

Octopus Real Estate

Octopus Real Estate publishes development loans from £5 million up to £100 million, the highest ceiling in this table, and a rate discount of up to 0.15% per month on bridging and development loans that improve a property's EPC rating, alongside a dedicated Greener Homes Alliance product. It does not publish development or refurbishment rates on its website, only bridging, and it publishes no completion timescale, so treat the speed of this one as unknown until you have terms.

Facility
£50k to £100m
Published rate
0.55% to 0.85%+per month
Trading history
No minimum trading history is published. Lending is assessed against the security property, development scheme and exit strategy rather than the borrower's trading record, and newly formed special purpose vehicles (SPVs) are commonly used for bridging and development deals.
Read full review

Or tell us what you need and we will match you

Check Eligibility

Every lender on our panel for this

Every lender on the Lendus panel whose record carries development finance. Where a lender writes both bridging and development, the rate shown is usually its bridging rate, because development pricing is more often quoted per scheme. Check the profile before reading a figure in the rate column as a development rate.

Lenders that publish a rate are listed first, then those that quote every deal individually. Within each group the order is alphabetical, so a lender's position in this table is not a score.

Lender Facility size Published rate Decision speed Minimum trading history Checked
Atelier Finance £3m to £40m BBR+4.99% to BBR+6.99%per year No fixed turnaround time is published. Atelier states it offers direct access to decision-makers for faster credit-backed approvals, with a dedicated drawdown team for ongoing project drawdowns. Not publicly stated as a fixed number of years. Atelier targets professional developers with a demonstrable track record of similar, completed developments.
Avamore Capital £250k to £25m From 0.56%as the lender publishes it, see profile Avamore states a bridging loan can typically be obtained within 3 to 4 days, depending on documentation and solicitor responsiveness. Refurbishment finance is often approved within 24 hours, which Avamore contrasts with the multi-week timelines it says are typical elsewhere. No minimum trading history is published. Avamore lends against the property or development scheme and exit strategy rather than the borrower's or company's trading track record, and states that development finance is available to less experienced developers.
CrowdProperty £200k to £10m 0.65% to 1.1%per month Indicative terms within 48 hours; full credit decision within 2 weeks; drawdown from 4 weeks None required, development experience is more important than trading history
LendInvest £75k to £15m 0.54% to 1.2%per month Credit decision within 24–48 hours; legal completion 2–4 weeks None required for property-backed lending
Octopus Real Estate £50k to £100m 0.55% to 0.85%+per month No fixed timeframe is published. Octopus states it delivers fast completions, even on complex cases, with a dedicated case team for large bridging and development loans; exact timescales are confirmed once a case is submitted. No minimum trading history is published. Lending is assessed against the security property, development scheme and exit strategy rather than the borrower's trading record, and newly formed special purpose vehicles (SPVs) are commonly used for bridging and development deals.
Together £50k to £25m 0.55% to 1.5%per month Indicative terms within 24 hours; completion 2–4 weeks None required for property-backed lending
Hampshire Trust Bank Up to £35m No public rate card Bridging finance targets 21 days from application to completion, supported by dual legal representation; specialist mortgage and development finance timescales are assessed case by case with a broker No minimum published; HTB lends only through registered intermediaries and assesses each case individually rather than against a fixed trading history rule
Investec £5k to £100m No public rate card No standard timeline is published. Facilities are arranged through a dedicated relationship banker and underwritten individually, so timescales depend on the complexity and size of the deal rather than an automated same-day decision. Not publicly stated. Investec assesses each business individually rather than publishing a minimum trading history requirement.
Magnet Capital £500k to £4m No public rate card Decision in principle often within minutes of receiving key project information; stage payments released within 48 hours of a site inspection; typical timeline from sign-up to completion is 6 to 10 weeks No minimum trading history stated; Magnet Capital says first-time developers can secure funding if the project itself is well-structured
OakNorth Bank From £1m No public rate card OakNorth states it typically funds partners within weeks rather than months, and in some cases within days; no fixed guaranteed decision timescale is published No fixed minimum published; trading history is one of several factors assessed case-by-case
Roma Finance £75k to £3m No public rate card Service level target of a response within 24 hours; Roma Finance states 80% of RomaFLOW bridging cases complete within 28 days, and cites a record bridging completion of 5.5 hours and a record buy-to-let completion of 6 days Not published as a fixed minimum. Roma Finance underwrites manually and case-by-case, focusing on the borrower's strength, experience and exit strategy rather than a set minimum trading history

Figures are taken from each lender's own published material on the date shown and are indicative, not offers. Where a lender publishes no rate we say so rather than estimating one. A monthly rate and a factor rate are not APRs and do not convert cleanly into one.

A lender's published rate can cover more than one of its products. Each lender's profile carries the full note, including which product the figure applies to and any fees charged on top.

† Lendus has not confirmed the regulatory status of LendInvest, Roma Finance against a primary source, so this page makes no regulatory claim about them. Check the FCA Register at register.fca.org.uk before you commit to any lender.

How this list is built, and what "best" means here

Reviewed 25 August 2026. This page is built from the Lendus lender panel rather than from a shortlist. Every provider whose record carries development finance appears in the table below, in an order generated from the records themselves: lenders that publish a rate come first, then lenders that quote every deal individually, alphabetically within each group. Position in that table is not a score. The picks above it are editorial, and "best" here means best for a stated job, such as the largest scheme, the only published development rate, or the most appetite for a first-time developer. The reason is written next to each pick, so you can disagree with it. We do not score lenders out of 5 and we do not rank them against one another, because the right lender depends on your size, your trading history and what you are funding. Rates, facility sizes, decision times and eligibility are taken from each lender's own published material on the date shown against it, and are indicative rather than offers. Where a lender publishes no rate, we print that rather than estimating one, and we print a rate in the unit the lender quotes it in, because a monthly rate and a factor rate are not APRs. We make no statement about a firm's regulatory status unless we have confirmed it against a primary source and recorded that source on the lender's own page; where we have not, we say so and point you to the FCA Register.

Lendus receives a commission or referral fee from brokers and lenders when a business we introduce goes on to receive funding. It does not affect the rates you are offered, and it cannot affect the order of the table above, which is generated from the lender records rather than set by hand.

Frequently asked questions

How is this list put together?
There is no shortlist. Every provider on the Lendus panel whose record carries development finance is in the table, so the list is decided by what is on the panel rather than by an editor. The order is generated: lenders that publish a rate first, then those that price each scheme individually, alphabetically within each group. The picks at the top are the editorial part of the page, chosen for a specific job and explained in a sentence each, and their figures are read from the same lender records as the table so a pick cannot quietly disagree with the row below it.
What is the difference between development finance and a bridging loan?
A bridging loan is a single advance secured on a property you are buying or holding, repaid when you sell or refinance. Development finance is structured around a build programme: the land or purchase element is advanced first, then construction funds are released in stages as a monitoring surveyor signs off work, usually with a retention held until practical completion. That staging is why development lenders underwrite your appraisal, your contractor and your track record rather than just the security, and why the lead time to first drawdown is longer than a bridging completion.
Can I apply through Lendus?
Yes. Lendus is an introducer, not a lender: we pass your details to FCA-authorised brokers and lending partners. Development lenders underwrite the scheme, the appraisal and your track record rather than a credit score, so the quality of the submission genuinely changes the answer you get.
How often is this list updated?
Each lender record carries its own last checked date, shown in the last column of the table, and the page as a whole was last reviewed on 25 August 2026. Most records on this panel were rechecked against the lenders' own published material on 23 August 2026. Appetite in development finance moves faster than published pricing does, and most of these lenders publish no development rate at all, so a current conversation beats any table including this one.
Do I need development experience?
It depends which lender, and this panel splits clearly. Atelier targets professional developers with a demonstrable track record of comparable completed schemes. CrowdProperty publishes no trading history requirement but states that development experience matters more than trading history. Magnet Capital states that first-time developers can secure funding where the project itself is well structured. Avamore Capital states that development finance is available to less experienced developers. If this is your first scheme, those last two are where to start, and an experienced project manager, architect and contractor on the team will matter more than anything on your balance sheet.

Ready to find the right lender?

Compare 200+ lenders in 2 minutes. No credit check.

Check Eligibility
Check Eligibility, 2 min, no credit check