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Different stages of a commercial property project need different types of finance. Banks are the obvious starting point, but non-bank lenders are often faster, more flexible, and better equipped to handle the tricky stuff. Here’s a snapshot:
Let’s start at the beginning.
Development finance is funding that’s built specifically for property developers. It’s not a standard home loan or an investment mortgage — it’s structured around the way development projects actually work.
Think about it: you’re not buying a finished building and moving in. You’re buying land, getting approvals, managing a construction timeline, and then selling. That whole process can take years. Your cash flow looks nothing like a regular property purchase.
Development finance for commercial property projects is designed around that reality. Each stage of your project has a different funding need — and there’s a product built for each one.
This is where most projects start. You’ve found the right site. Now you need to buy it.
Land acquisition loans let you do exactly that. Most are set up as interest-only — meaning you’re only paying interest while you hold the land, not chipping away at the loan balance. That keeps your costs manageable while you’re still in the planning and approval phase.
The bank reality: Banks will lend on land, but they’re often slow to approve and strict about what projects they’ll back. Raw land — without approved planning — can be particularly hard to finance through a major bank.
The non-bank difference: Non-bank lenders are more willing to look at the full picture. Your track record, the site’s potential, your development plan — they consider the whole deal, not just a checklist.
Once you’ve got the land and your approvals are in place, construction finance is what gets the project built.
Here’s how it works: the lender doesn’t hand you all the money at once. They release it in stages as your build progresses — called progress draws. You complete a stage, submit your progress claim, the lender checks it off and releases the next tranche.
The upside? You only pay interest on money you’ve actually received. If you’ve drawn $2M of a $5M facility, you’re only paying interest on $2M.
Why this matters: Construction projects can run for 18 months, two years, sometimes longer. A staged facility keeps your interest costs in check and your project moving.
Explore Zolve’s construction finance solutions for large-scale and complex builds.
This one’s pretty simple. Sometimes you need money right now to keep moving — but it’s tied up somewhere else.
Maybe you’ve found your next site but haven’t finished selling the last project. Maybe you’re waiting on a longer-term loan to settle and there’s a gap. Bridging finance fills that gap while you sort it out.
It’s short-term by design. You pay it back once the previous project sells or the longer-term finance kicks in.
The key advantage: Speed. Non-bank lenders can often approve bridging finance in days rather than weeks. When timing matters, that can make the difference between getting the deal and missing it.
Your project’s done. Most of it has sold. But there are still a handful of units or lots sitting unsettled.
That unsold stock has value — but it’s tied up. Residual stock finance lets you borrow against those remaining properties, freeing up cash to move on to your next project without having to offload everything at a discount just to get liquid.
It’s not something every project needs. But for developers managing multiple projects at once, it’s an important tool.
Already own a development site or a completed project? You may be able to unlock capital that’s sitting in it.
Refinancing and equity release lets you borrow against the existing value of a property — either to fund the next stage of your current project, or to seed your next one. It’s a smart move when you’ve got equity tied up and you need it working harder.
Non-bank lenders are often more flexible here too — higher LVRs, faster turnarounds, and less fuss about the property type or your financial structure.
This one’s slightly more complex, but worth understanding.
When you’ve got your main loan (called senior debt) in place but still have a funding gap, mezzanine finance fills the middle. It sits between your senior loan and your own equity — so you don’t have to put in as much of your own money to make the deal work.
The trade-off is that it costs more than your main loan. Mezzanine lenders take on more risk, so they charge a higher rate. But in the right scenario, it can be the thing that gets a viable project over the line.
Senior debt is the main loan on your project — the biggest piece of the puzzle.
It’s called “senior” because if things go wrong, this lender gets paid back first. That lower risk means it’s usually the cheapest finance in your structure.
Getting the right senior debt facility — at the right terms, with the right lender for your type of project — is the foundation everything else is built on.
Sometimes a project needs more than just a loan. Some developments — particularly larger builds, complex projects, or deals with an equity shortfall — call for a different approach entirely.
Joint venture and private funding arrangements bring in capital partners rather than just lenders. That might mean an equity partner who co-owns the project, a private investor who backs the development in exchange for a share of the profits, or a profit-sharing arrangement structured around the project’s returns.
This type of capital can be suitable when:
How does that benefit me? The upside is real — these structures can reduce the cash you need to put in yourself, open the door to deals that wouldn’t otherwise stack up, and bring in partners with experience or networks that add value beyond just the money.
The trade-off is that you’re sharing the upside too. It’s a different kind of commitment to a standard loan, so it’s worth getting good advice on structure before you proceed.
The best finance structure for your project depends on a few key things:
A project might start with a land acquisition loan, move into construction finance, and then transition into a refinance or residual stock facility once the build is done. The right lender at one stage may not be the best fit at the next.
That’s exactly why many experienced developers work with brokers who have specialist knowledge of the full development finance landscape — someone who can see the whole picture, not just the next step.
Going to a bank is the obvious first move. They’re familiar, they’re big, and rates are often competitive.
But here’s where it gets honest.
Where banks struggle:
Where non-bank lenders shine:
Okay, but what’s the downside? The honest trade-off: Non-bank finance usually costs a bit more in interest. That’s the reality. But when speed and flexibility are what your project needs — or when a bank has already said no — that extra cost often more than earns its place.
Finding the right lender for your project is harder than it sounds. Every lender has different appetites, different strengths, different sweet spots. Reaching out one by one wastes time you don’t have.
That’s the problem Zolve solves.
We’re a commercial broker in the non-bank lending space. We work with property developers and investors across Australia — from first-time developers to experienced groups with complex portfolios — and we connect them with the right lenders, fast.
Here’s what that looks like in practice:
All the lenders on our platform are independent — none of them are affiliated with Zolve. They’re there because they’re good at what they do and they share our approach: find the solution, not the reason to say no.
Whether you’re at the land stage, mid-construction, or wrapping up a project with stock still to sell — if you need development finance, we’d love to hear about your project.
No lengthy forms. No jargon. Just a real conversation about what you’re trying to do and how we can help.
Get in touch with the Zolve team →
Dale Wilkinson is the co-founder and director of Zolve Australia — a commercial broker specialising in non-bank and private lending for property developers and investors.
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