Downing Property Finance
The property lending arm of investment manager Downing, writing £2m to £30m of development and bridging finance to experienced developers across the UK outside Northern Ireland.
What they do
Downing Property Finance lends from investor capital managed by Downing LLP alongside institutional facilities, including a £75m development line from HSBC. Facilities run from £2m to £30m, at up to 85 per cent of cost and 65 per cent of gross development value, covering ground-up development, bridging and development exit. Underwriting is on scheme cost, end value and the developer's track record, and one published case saw an exit bridge completed in around three weeks.
Where they fit in a lower-mid-market raise
A £3–15m development requirement fits inside the range with room above it, so a developer does not have to change lender as schemes grow. Advance rates at 85 per cent of cost are towards the higher end of the market, which reduces the equity needed. Being part of an established investment manager gives the funding a stability that platform lenders cannot always match.
Where they are not the fit
Northern Ireland schemes are excluded, as is regulated owner-occupier lending and speculative commercial development. The published floor has moved to £2m, above the £1m quoted in older material, so smaller cases need checking. All lending is secured on the scheme rather than on trading earnings.
Published terms
- Pricing
- Not published
- Speed to terms
- Not published
- Sponsored or sponsorless
- Borrowers are property developers/SPVs (experienced SME developers), sourced direct and via broker/intermediary partners; not corporate-LBO sponsor lending
- Where they lend
- Whole of UK excluding Northern Ireland
- Personal guarantee
- Typically required
- Search funds and ETA
- No published route for search-fund or first-time acquirer borrowers
As published by the lender and last reviewed August 2026. Terms quoted on a deal are set by the credit, not by a published band.
The desks that lend
Downing Property Finance lends through 2 separate books. Which one reads a deal decides the security, the covenant package and the band, so the question is rarely whether Downing Property Finance lends, but which of these would own it.
Development finance
- Facility
- £2m to £30m
- Security
- First charge over development scheme/property (up to 85% LTC or 65% loan to gross development value)
- Funds
- Growth
- Rules out
- Northern Ireland schemes; Regulated/owner-occupier lending; Speculative commercial development
Bridging / development exit
- Facility
- £2m to £30m
- Security
- First charge; development-exit or stabilisation and acquisition/planning-stage bridges
- Funds
- Refinance
- Rules out
- Northern Ireland; Regulated lending
Limits that apply across the firm
Stated limits, taken from Downing Property Finance’s own published criteria, beyond the ones each desk carries above. A limit is where a lender starts from, not where it always ends: several of these move on a strong enough credit.
- No appetite in northern ireland or northern ireland schemes
How they sit against the category
- Its published ceiling is £30m; 22 of the 75 property-backed lenders here go at least as high.
- It starts higher than all but 11 of them, at £2m.
Counted across the 75 property-backed lenders in this directory, on what each one publishes. What a lender discloses and what it will do are different things.
Questions this page answers
How large a facility does Downing Property Finance write?
Published facilities run £2m to £30m. A band is what a lender states it will do, not what it will do on a given credit.
Does Downing Property Finance require a personal guarantee?
On Downing Property Finance's published terms, a personal guarantee is typically required. What a lender asks for on a given credit is settled in the documents, not by a published stance.
Does Downing Property Finance lend to search funds or ETA buyers?
Not on the published evidence. Downing Property Finance publishes no route for search-fund or first-time acquirer borrowers. A searcher's route to a lender usually runs through the quality of the target and the equity behind it.
On the record
November 2023: £75m development-finance facility from HSBC to bolster SME development lending nationwide (Scottish Construction Now.
January 2025: Completed £16m loan for 50 energy-efficient apartments, SME developer; Parik Chandra reiterates appetite up to £30m (downing.co.uk.
2025: Continued development-finance team expansion; active 'Funding Foundations' property podcast referencing 2026 deal completions and Gateway-2 timelines — confirms live origination into 2026 (downing.co.uk.
Sources: downing.co.uk · institutional.downing.co.uk · scottishconstructionnow.com · downingcrowd.co.uk
This profile is a curated reference note drawn from public sources, not financial advice or a recommendation. Appetite and terms change; a lender's fit for a given credit is established by approaching it, not inferred from a page.