Written by the Lendus editorial team. Last updated .
The best Magnet Capital alternatives include CrowdProperty for schemes from £200,000 with published rates, Avamore Capital for less experienced developers, LendInvest for schemes from £75,000, Together for the smallest projects and a bridging exit, Atelier Finance for £3 million to £40 million, Octopus Real Estate above £15 million, and Hampshire Trust Bank for bank-funded development up to £35 million.
Magnet Capital is a specialist development finance lender founded in 2018 and based in Mill Hill, London. It does four things and only four things: ground-up development finance, light refurbishment, heavy refurbishment and conversion development finance. Loans run from £500,000 to £4 million, with loan-to-GDV up to 65%, loan-to-cost up to 90% and loan-to-value up to 70%. A decision in principle often comes within minutes of receiving the key project information, stage payments are released within 48 hours of a site inspection, and a typical deal runs 6 to 10 weeks from sign-up to completion. It is a member of the Bridging and Development Lenders Association.
Developers rarely leave because of service. They leave because of the band. Below £500,000 and above £4 million, Magnet cannot help, and those two cutoffs catch a lot of real schemes: the single-title conversion at £320,000 and the 40-unit site at £7 million alike. The second reason is that Magnet publishes no standard rate range, so you cannot compare pricing until you have applied. The third is that there is no bridging product, so the site purchase and the eventual exit both have to be arranged somewhere else.
The seven lenders below all write development finance and each one solves a specific one of those problems.
CrowdProperty is the closest comparison in temperament, a specialist founded by property development professionals that does residential and mixed-use development and nothing much else. The two things it does that Magnet does not are publish a rate range and lend below £500,000, starting at £200,000.
Rates and amounts: 0.65% to 1.1% per month on development finance, which is a monthly rate and not an APR, with arrangement fees typically around 2% of the loan; £200,000 to £10 million.
Eligibility: No trading history required, development experience matters more; no minimum turnover, underwriting is project and developer based.
Pros: A published rate range you can benchmark before applying, which Magnet does not offer; a £200,000 minimum against Magnet’s £500,000 and a £10 million ceiling against Magnet’s £4 million; founded by property developers, with deep sector expertise in underwriting; a technology platform providing transparent project updates and drawdown management; FCA authorised under reference 723959.
Cons: Explicitly less suitable for first-time developers without a completed project track record, where Magnet says it will consider them; the crowdfunding model means timelines depend on investor appetite, with indicative terms in 48 hours but a full credit decision within 2 weeks and drawdown from 4 weeks, against Magnet’s decision in principle in minutes; commercial development is not covered.
Best for: Experienced residential and mixed-use developers with a completed scheme behind them, particularly on projects between £200,000 and £500,000 that Magnet cannot touch.
Magnet’s willingness to consider first-time developers is one of its genuine differentiators, so if you are leaving Magnet for size rather than experience, Avamore is the alternative that preserves it. It states that development finance is available to less experienced developers, not only those with an established track record, and it reaches £25 million.
Rates and amounts: Development finance from 6.75% per annum plus the Bank of England Base Rate; bridging from 0.56% per month with base rate added and fixed for the life of the loan, which is a monthly rate and not an APR; £250,000 to £25 million.
Eligibility: No minimum trading history published; no minimum turnover published, lending is secured against the property or development scheme and its exit strategy.
Pros: Development finance open to less experienced developers; a £25 million ceiling, more than six times Magnet’s; bridging available alongside development finance, so site purchase and exit can sit with the same lender; refurbishment finance often approved within 24 hours and bridging able to complete in 3 to 4 days; flexible on personal guarantees, overseas resident borrowers and complicated equity structures.
Cons: Avamore states on its own website that it is not FCA authorised and provides unregulated loans to corporate entities and private individuals; ground-up development still starts at £500,000, matching Magnet’s floor rather than beating it; pricing is quoted as a margin over base rate, so the true cost moves with base rate at drawdown; development lending is restricted to mainland England and Wales.
Best for: Developers on their first or second scheme in England or Wales who need more than £4 million, or who want the bridging leg from the same lender.
LendInvest starts at £75,000, the lowest entry point of any lender here that offers development finance, and it publishes an indicative starting rate. It also runs bridging and commercial mortgages, so all three legs of a development, purchase, build and exit, can be arranged in one place.
Rates and amounts: Development finance from around 7% per annum; bridging 0.54% to 1.2% per month, which is a monthly rate and not an APR; £75,000 to £15 million.
Eligibility: No trading history required for property-backed lending; no minimum turnover, lending is property and project backed.
Pros: A £75,000 minimum, well below Magnet’s £500,000; a £15 million ceiling, nearly four times Magnet’s; a published starting rate for development finance, which Magnet does not offer; credit decisions within 24 to 48 hours; bridging and commercial mortgages available alongside development finance.
Cons: We make no claim about LendInvest’s regulatory status, because our lender record for LendInvest has not been through source verification, so check the FCA Register at register.fca.org.uk yourself before proceeding. Development finance requires demonstrable developer experience, where Magnet says it considers first-timers; legal completion takes 2 to 4 weeks on top of the credit decision; arrangement fees and exit fees add meaningfully to total cost.
Best for: Experienced developers with schemes between £75,000 and £500,000, and anyone who wants purchase, build and exit finance from a single platform.
Together starts at £50,000, the lowest floor on this list, and covers development finance, bridging and commercial mortgages. Its real specialism is the case that does not fit a template: non-standard properties, unusual income, adverse credit considered on its merits. Where Magnet’s underwriting is relationship-led but conventional, Together has been doing awkward property since 1974.
Rates and amounts: 0.55% to 1.5% per month, which is a monthly rate and not an APR; £50,000 to £25 million.
Eligibility: No trading history required, lending is property-backed; no minimum turnover, income and asset position reviewed.
Pros: A £50,000 minimum, one tenth of Magnet’s floor, and a £25 million ceiling; over 50 years of specialist lending; adverse credit and non-standard income accepted case by case; indicative terms within 24 hours on bridging enquiries; development finance, bridging and commercial mortgages from one lender.
Cons: Rates run higher than mainstream commercial mortgages; a clear and viable exit strategy is required on bridging; arrangement fees and legal costs add to the total; Together Financial Services Limited is a group holding company that does not itself hold an FCA firm reference number, so check which regulated entity is on your agreement, with Together Personal Finance Limited (305253) and Blemain Finance Limited (719121) among them.
Best for: Small conversions and refurbishments well under £500,000, and any scheme where the property or the borrower’s profile is the complication.
If you are leaving Magnet because the scheme has grown past £4 million, Atelier is the direct like-for-like on gearing. It matches Magnet’s up-to-90% loan-to-cost and goes slightly further on gross development value at up to 70% loan-to-GDV, and it publishes its pricing formula rather than keeping it entirely private.
Rates and amounts: Base rate plus 4.99% to base rate plus 6.99% per annum, priced as the Bank of England Base Rate plus a margin varying by product, loan-to-value and loan size, with fees case by case; £3 million to £40 million.
Eligibility: No fixed years of trading published. Atelier targets professional developers with a demonstrable track record of comparable completed developments.
Pros: A published pricing formula, unlike Magnet’s confirmed-on-application approach; up to 90% loan-to-cost and 70% loan-to-gross-development-value; covers residential, purpose-built student accommodation, build-to-rent, care and bridging; daily interest and a transparent fee structure, so you pay only for time drawn; a dedicated drawdown team supports staged drawdowns through the build programme.
Cons: A £3 million minimum, so it does not help below Magnet’s band; explicitly aimed at professional developers with a track record and not suited to first-time developers, unlike Magnet; rates track the Bank of England Base Rate, so cost moves with base rate changes; Atelier Capital Partners Limited is not authorised by the FCA and is registered with and supervised by the FCA for anti-money laundering purposes only, under registration number 910090, with its development and bridging loans being exempt agreements.
Best for: Experienced developers whose scheme has outgrown Magnet’s £4 million ceiling and who want high gearing with daily interest.
Octopus writes development loans from £5 million up to £100 million, among the largest limits of any UK specialist real estate lender, and it is the only lender here with an explicit rate incentive for improving a building’s energy performance. That combination is worth checking on any scheme where EPC improvement is already part of the plan.
Rates and amounts: Development and refurbishment loan rates are not published; residential bridging from 0.55% per month and commercial bridging from 0.85% per month, which are monthly rates and not APRs, with no published ceiling; a rate discount of up to 0.15% per month is available on bridging and development loans that improve a property’s EPC rating; £50,000 to £100 million.
Eligibility: No minimum trading history published, and newly formed special purpose vehicles are commonly used; no published turnover requirement, lending is asset-backed.
Pros: Development loans from £5 million to £100 million, the highest ceiling on this list; a green rate discount of up to 0.15% per month plus a dedicated Greener Homes Alliance development product; both regulated bridging on a borrower’s own home and unregulated bridging for investment and commercial property from one lender; institutional funding lines through Octopus Group; Octopus Investments Limited is FCA authorised under reference 194779.
Cons: Development loans start at £5 million, so this is no help within Magnet’s band; a £1 million minimum applies to commercial bridging; development and refurbishment rates are not published, the same benchmarking problem you had with Magnet; credit policy, turnover requirements and approval timescales are not published, so eligibility is only confirmed after submission.
Best for: Developers with schemes above £5 million, particularly where the project raises the property’s EPC rating enough to earn the discount.
Every other lender on this list is a specialist non-bank. Hampshire Trust Bank is a full UK bank, authorised by the Prudential Regulation Authority and regulated by the FCA and PRA, with deposits FSCS protected. For a developer who wants a bank balance sheet behind a multi-phase scheme, that is a different kind of security from a specialist funder.
Rates and amounts: Not published for direct comparison. Bridging, development finance and specialist mortgage pricing is provided via rate cards issued to registered brokers through HTB’s PUMA intermediary portal; no minimum loan size is published, with a per-customer ceiling of £35 million.
Eligibility: No minimum published; HTB lends only through registered intermediaries and assesses each case individually.
Pros: A full UK bank, authorised by the PRA and regulated by the FCA and PRA under reference 204601; a per-customer lending ceiling recently raised to £35 million across bridging, specialist mortgages and development finance; bridging completions targeted within 21 days with dual legal representation, which is a faster exit route than Magnet’s 6 to 10 week development timeline; no early repayment charges on bridging; covers bridging, development finance and specialist, semi-commercial and buy-to-let mortgages.
Cons: Intermediary-only, so you cannot apply directly and must go through a registered broker; rates and detailed criteria are not published and are only available via broker rate cards; no published minimum loan size, so smaller borrowers cannot judge eligibility upfront.
Best for: Developers with a broker relationship who want bank funding across development and the bridging exit, on schemes up to £35 million.
| Lender | Amount range | Development pricing | First-time developers | Bridging available |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Magnet Capital | £500,000–£4m | Not published, rolled up, per project | Considered if well-structured | No |
| CrowdProperty | £200,000–£10m | 0.65%–1.1% per month | Less suitable | Yes |
| Avamore Capital | £250,000–£25m | From 6.75% per annum plus base rate | Less experienced accepted | Yes |
| LendInvest | £75,000–£15m | From around 7% per annum | Experience required | Yes |
| Together | £50,000–£25m | 0.55%–1.5% per month | Not published | Yes |
| Atelier Finance | £3m–£40m | Base rate plus 4.99%–6.99% per annum | Not suited | Yes |
| Octopus Real Estate | £50,000–£100m (development from £5m) | Not published | Not published | Yes |
| Hampshire Trust Bank | Not published, up to £35m | Broker rate cards only | Not published | Yes |
Choose CrowdProperty if the scheme is between £200,000 and £500,000, you have a completed project behind you, and you want a published rate range before you apply.
Choose Avamore Capital if this is one of your first developments in England or Wales and you need more than Magnet’s £4 million.
Choose LendInvest if the scheme is small, between £75,000 and £500,000, and you have development experience to show.
Choose Together if the project is well under £500,000, or the property or your credit profile is what makes the case awkward.
Choose Atelier Finance if the scheme is £3 million or more and maximum gearing at up to 90% loan-to-cost is the deciding factor.
Choose Octopus Real Estate if the scheme is above £5 million, particularly where EPC improvement earns the rate discount.
Choose Hampshire Trust Bank if you work through a broker and want a full UK bank funding both the development and the bridging exit.
One practical note on comparing these. Magnet Capital rolls up interest with an option to service it monthly, and several lenders here do the same, so the headline rate tells you very little about what the scheme actually costs. Ask each lender for a full cost illustration covering the arrangement fee, the exit fee, rolled-up interest over your build programme and any monitoring surveyor costs, then compare those totals against your gross development value. And check every firm, including Magnet Capital, on the FCA Register at register.fca.org.uk before you sign.
Need development finance? Compare specialist lenders.
Check EligibilityCheck eligibility in 2 minutes. No credit check.
Check Eligibility →