Written by the Lendus editorial team. Last updated .
The best Octopus Real Estate alternatives include LendInvest for bridging from £75,000, West One Loans for second charge bridging, Together for adverse credit cases, Shawbrook Bank for a full banking licence, CrowdProperty for development finance from £200,000, Avamore Capital for refurbishment decisions in 24 hours, and Atelier Finance for gearing up to 90% loan-to-cost.
Octopus Real Estate is the property lending arm now operating under the Octopus Capital brand, lending through Octopus Investments Limited, which is authorised and regulated by the FCA under firm reference number 194779. It covers residential and commercial bridging, development and refurbishment lending and buy-to-let, from £50,000 up to £100 million, with residential bridging priced from 0.55% per month and commercial bridging from 0.85% per month.
The reason borrowers look elsewhere is almost never the rate. It is the size of the deals Octopus is set up to do. Commercial bridging typically starts at a £1 million minimum loan size and development finance runs from £5 million to £100 million, which excludes the majority of UK schemes. Add to that no published rate ceiling, no representative APR and no published timescale from application to completion, and a borrower with a £600,000 conversion or a £2 million commercial bridge has both a size problem and a certainty problem.
The alternatives below are all property lenders, split between those that do the same thing at a smaller ticket size and those that compete directly at Octopus’s larger end. Where a lender’s regulatory position differs from Octopus’s, this guide says so, because on unregulated business and investment property lending that difference is the borrower’s to weigh.
LendInvest does the same three things Octopus does, bridging, development finance and commercial mortgages, and publishes both ends of its bridging range rather than just the floor. It lends from £75,000, which is more than 13 times below Octopus’s commercial bridging minimum.
Rates and amounts: 0.54% to 1.2% per month on bridging, with an 11.1% APR representative; development finance from 7% per annum; £75,000 to £15 million.
Eligibility: No trading history and no turnover requirement, as lending is property and project backed. Moderate adverse credit considered, with experienced borrowers preferred for development finance.
Pros: A published maximum monthly rate, which Octopus does not provide. Credit decision within 24 to 48 hours. Technology-driven underwriting with property specialists on the credit team. AIM-listed and publicly accountable.
Cons: Development finance requires demonstrable developer experience, so first-time developers are poorly served. Ceiling of £15 million is well below Octopus’s £100 million. Arrangement and exit fees add materially to total cost. Lendus has not verified LendInvest’s regulatory position from a primary source, so check the FCA Register at register.fca.org.uk before proceeding.
Best for: Experienced developers and landlords with schemes between £75,000 and £15 million who want to see the worst-case rate before committing.
Octopus lends on a first charge basis. West One will lend behind an existing mortgage, which is the single structural thing on this list that Octopus’s published range does not cover, and it does both regulated and unregulated bridging from £50,000.
Rates and amounts: 0.55% to 1.3% per month on bridging, with an 11.2% APR representative; buy-to-let mortgages from 5.8% per annum; £50,000 to £20 million.
Eligibility: No trading history required for property-backed bridging and no turnover requirement. Adverse credit considered case by case, with exit strategy and property quality as the primary underwriting factors.
Pros: Second charge bridging, letting you raise money without disturbing a cheap existing first charge. Credit decision within 24 hours and completion typically 2 to 3 weeks. Regulated and unregulated bridging from one lender, as Octopus offers. West One Secured Loans Ltd is FCA authorised under firm reference number 776026.
Cons: Primarily intermediary-only, so best accessed through a broker. Development finance is limited compared with a dedicated development lender, and the £20 million ceiling is a fifth of Octopus’s. Arrangement and legal fees apply as standard.
Best for: Investors who need to release equity behind an existing loan, or who want a decision in 24 hours on a deal well under Octopus’s commercial minimum.
Together has been lending since 1974 and its whole model is the deal other lenders decline: non-standard property, adverse credit, unusual income. Octopus underwrites against the security and the exit too, but Together publishes an explicit position on adverse credit that Octopus does not.
Rates and amounts: 0.55% to 1.5% per month, with an 11.4% APR representative; £50,000 to £25 million across bridging, commercial mortgages and development finance.
Eligibility: No trading history and no turnover requirement, as lending is property-backed with income and asset position reviewed. Adverse credit considered on a case-by-case basis.
Pros: Over 50 years of lending history. Adverse credit and non-standard income accepted case by case. Indicative terms within 24 hours on bridging. Lends from £50,000, twenty times below Octopus’s commercial bridging minimum.
Cons: The top of its range, 1.5% per month, is the highest published figure in this guide. Higher rates than mainstream commercial mortgages. Not suitable for unsecured borrowing. Together Financial Services Limited is the group holding company and does not itself hold an FCA firm reference number, though its regulated lending entities include Together Personal Finance Limited (305253) and Blemain Finance Limited (719121).
Best for: Borrowers with a credit event, an unusual property or an awkward ownership structure who have already been declined once.
Octopus lends through an FCA-authorised investment manager. Shawbrook lends as a deposit-taking bank, authorised by the Prudential Regulation Authority and regulated by the FCA and PRA under firm reference number 204574, and its bridging pricing sits inside Octopus’s own range at 0.55% to 1.25% per month.
Rates and amounts: 0.55% to 1.25% per month on bridging, with a 10.8% APR representative; commercial mortgages from 5.5% per annum; £50,000 to £25 million.
Eligibility: No trading history required for property-backed bridging and no turnover requirement on property finance. Moderate adverse credit considered on property-backed products.
Pros: Full banking licence and dual regulation. The same 0.55% per month entry rate as Octopus residential bridging, but with a published ceiling. Specialist underwriters for HMO, portfolio landlord, semi-commercial and light development. Indicative terms within 24 hours.
Cons: Completion typically 2 to 4 weeks, so slower on straightforward deals than a specialist bridging lender. Minimum deal sizes still exclude very small transactions. Development lending is lighter than a dedicated development house.
Best for: Portfolio landlords and investors who want the balance sheet strength Octopus’s institutional funding implies, but in the form of an actual regulated bank.
This is the biggest gap in Octopus’s range. Octopus development finance starts at £5 million. CrowdProperty funds residential and mixed-use development from £200,000 to £10 million, priced at 0.65% to 1.1% per month with a 10.5% APR representative, and it is FCA authorised under firm reference number 723959.
Rates and amounts: 0.65% to 1.1% per month on development finance, with a 10.5% APR representative; arrangement fees typically 2% of the loan; £200,000 to £10 million.
Eligibility: No trading history or turnover requirement. Developer experience is the primary criterion, with a track record of completed projects preferred. Moderate adverse credit may be considered where the development record is strong.
Pros: A £200,000 development floor against Octopus’s £5 million. Founded by property development professionals, so underwriting is hands-on rather than generic. Rated 4.9 on Trustpilot from over 320 reviews, the highest of any UK development finance provider on the Lendus panel. Transparent drawdown management through its platform.
Cons: Residential and mixed-use only, so no commercial development. Ceiling of £10 million is a tenth of Octopus’s. Crowdfunding model means timelines depend partly on investor appetite, with drawdown from 4 weeks. Arrangement fees around 2% add to project cost.
Best for: Experienced small and mid-scale residential developers whose schemes are an order of magnitude below Octopus’s development minimum.
Octopus publishes no timescale. Avamore states that a bridging loan can typically be obtained within 3 to 4 days and that refurbishment finance is often approved within 24 hours. It also states that development finance is available to less experienced developers, which most specialist lenders will not commit to.
Rates and amounts: Bridging from 0.56% per month, with the Bank of England Base Rate added to the Avamore rate and fixed for the life of the loan. Development finance quoted separately from 6.75% per annum plus Base Rate. No maximum rate is published. Bridging and refurbishment from £250,000, ground-up development from £500,000, up to £25 million.
Eligibility: No minimum trading history and no minimum turnover. Lending is assessed on the property, loan-to-value or loan-to-GDV and exit strategy. Flexible on personal guarantees, and it considers foreign and overseas resident borrowers and complicated equity structures.
Pros: The fastest published turnaround in this guide. Development finance open to developers without an established track record. Principal lender with decisions made in-house. A £250,000 floor against Octopus’s £1 million on commercial bridging.
Cons: Avamore states it is not FCA-authorised and provides unregulated loans to corporate entities and private individuals under FSMA exemptions, so there are no FCA-regulated consumer protections. Rates float with Bank of England Base Rate, so the true cost depends on the rate at drawdown. Development lending is restricted to mainland England and Wales.
Best for: Developers on a deadline, particularly on refurbishment, and first or second scheme developers who cannot evidence the track record Octopus and LendInvest expect.
At Octopus’s own end of the market, the argument is gearing. Octopus development finance is available up to 65% of gross development value. Atelier lends up to 70% of loan-to-gross-development-value and up to 90% loan-to-cost on schemes of £3 million to £40 million, which means less developer equity in the deal.
Rates and amounts: Bank of England Base Rate plus a margin of 4.99% to 6.99% per annum, varying by product, loan-to-value and loan size, with fees case by case. £3 million to £40 million.
Eligibility: Not stated as a fixed number of years. Atelier targets professional developers with a demonstrable track record of similar completed developments, and underwrites on project viability, exit strategy and security cover.
Pros: Up to 90% loan-to-cost and 70% loan-to-GDV, higher gearing than Octopus’s published 65% of GDV. Covers residential, purpose-built student accommodation, build-to-rent, care and bridging. Daily interest, so you pay only for time drawn. Dedicated drawdown team for staged releases.
Cons: Minimum £3 million rules out smaller schemes. Rates track Base Rate plus a margin, so cost moves with monetary policy. Aimed squarely at experienced developers. Atelier Capital Partners Limited is not authorised by the FCA and its development and bridging loans are exempt agreements, with FCA registration 910090 covering anti-money laundering supervision only.
Best for: Professional developers running £3 million to £40 million schemes who want to put less cash in, and who understand they are taking unregulated business finance.
| Lender | Products | Loan range | Monthly rate | Development floor | Speed |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| LendInvest | Bridging, development, commercial mortgages | £75,000 to £15,000,000 | 0.54% to 1.2% | Not stated separately | Decision in 24 to 48 hours |
| West One Loans | Bridging, commercial mortgages | £50,000 to £20,000,000 | 0.55% to 1.3% | Limited | Decision in 24 hours |
| Together | Bridging, commercial mortgages, development | £50,000 to £25,000,000 | 0.55% to 1.5% | Not stated separately | Terms in 24 hours |
| Shawbrook Bank | Bridging, commercial mortgages, business loans | £50,000 to £25,000,000 | 0.55% to 1.25% | Light development only | Terms in 24 hours |
| CrowdProperty | Development, bridging | £200,000 to £10,000,000 | 0.65% to 1.1% | £200,000 | Terms in 48 hours |
| Avamore Capital | Bridging, development | £250,000 to £25,000,000 | From 0.56% plus Base Rate | £500,000 | Bridging in 3 to 4 days |
| Atelier Finance | Development, bridging | £3,000,000 to £40,000,000 | Base Rate plus 4.99% to 6.99% per annum | £3,000,000 | Not published |
| Octopus Real Estate | Bridging, development, commercial mortgages | £50,000 to £100,000,000 | From 0.55% residential, from 0.85% commercial | £5,000,000 | Not published |
Choose LendInvest if you want the same product set as Octopus with a published maximum rate and a £75,000 entry point.
Choose West One Loans if you need to borrow behind an existing charge, which none of the other lenders here offers as a headline product.
Choose Together if a credit event, an unusual property or a non-standard income has already cost you one decline.
Choose Shawbrook Bank if you would rather the money came from a deposit-taking bank and the deal is a portfolio, HMO or semi-commercial case.
Choose CrowdProperty if you are building residential or mixed-use at a scale between £200,000 and £10 million, where Octopus development finance simply does not start.
Choose Avamore Capital if the deadline is days rather than weeks, or if you are on your first or second scheme.
Choose Atelier Finance if your scheme is £3 million or more and the binding constraint is how much equity you have to put in rather than the interest rate.
One thing worth keeping in view: Octopus’s EPC-linked discount of up to 0.15% per month has no equivalent among these seven. On a scheme where the finished energy rating is already part of the plan, that discount can be worth more than the headline rate difference. Compare the total cost of the facility, including arrangement and exit fees, rather than the monthly rate alone. Lendus is an introducer and not a lender, and comparing the panel involves no credit search.
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