Care home finance.

Finance for care homes and the wider healthcare sector — whether you operate the home yourself or let it to an operator. These are underwritten on the trading business as much as the bricks and mortar, so the right structure turns on the operator, the ratings and the income, not the building alone.

Model My Term Loan All Commercial Mortgages

Operator or investorTwo routes

Going-concernValuation basis

CQC / CI ratedOperator quality

Whole of marketLender access

Operator or investor: two ways in

Owner-operator. You run the home. The lender underwrites the trading business — occupancy, fee rates, staffing cost and EBITDARM — with the property as security rather than the source of repayment. Your track record and the home's rating carry real weight.

Investment. You own the home and let it to an operator on a lease. Here the deal is underwritten on the operator covenant and the lease, much like a commercial investment mortgage; the strength of the tenant operator is effectively the asset.

It is a business, not just a building

Care home lending is trading-business lending. Occupancy, average weekly fees, staffing ratios and the CQC or Care Inspectorate rating drive the value as much as the floor area does. That is why these are usually valued on a going-concern basis — the business as a trading entity — which can differ substantially from a bare bricks-and-mortar figure.

A well-run, well-rated home with stable occupancy is a straightforward funding conversation. A home with a poor rating, low occupancy or a turnaround story is a different one, and honest about which it is from the outset saves everyone time.

What lenders look at

Rating. CQC (England) or Care Inspectorate (Scotland) rating and inspection history.
Occupancy and fees. Current occupancy, private vs local-authority fee mix, and trend.
Operator experience. Track record running registered care; first-time operators are fundable but the structure changes.
Registration. Registered bed numbers, category of care and the physical suitability of the home.

Care homes FAQs

Can you arrange finance to buy a care home?

Yes — for owner-operators buying a home to run, and for investors buying a home let to an operator. Owner-operator deals are underwritten on the trading business and your experience; investment deals on the operator covenant and the lease. Arranged whole of market.

How are care homes valued?

Usually on a going-concern basis — the home as a trading business, reflecting occupancy, fees and profitability — rather than a bare bricks-and-mortar figure. The going-concern value can be materially higher, but it depends on the home performing, which is why the trading numbers matter as much as the property.

Do I need care sector experience?

It helps and it widens the lender pool, but first-time operators can be funded, often with a stronger management team, a lower opening leverage or additional security. The rating and the business plan carry the case.

Do you finance the wider healthcare sector?

Yes — care homes, supported living, and related healthcare property, both owner-operated and investment, across the UK.

How long does care home finance take to arrange?

Eight to sixteen weeks. The valuation assesses the home as a trading business rather than as a building, so three years of accounts, occupancy and fee data, staffing and the current regulatory inspection position all have to be analysed. Lender due diligence on the operator is deeper than on an ordinary property transaction. Where a completion has to happen in under two months, the practical structure is a bridge now with term finance arranged properly behind it.

Care homes are valued as a business, not a building

A trading care home is valued as a fully equipped operational entity: the valuer forms a view of the fair maintainable trade a reasonably efficient operator could sustain, and capitalises it. Your actual accounts inform that judgement but do not decide it, so an underperforming home is valued on what it should earn rather than on what it currently does — which cuts both ways.

Alongside it sits a vacant possession or closed value: the building empty, with no registration, no staff and no trade. On a purpose built home that figure can sit dramatically below the going concern valuation, and where a lender sizes against it the deal changes shape entirely. Reports commonly distinguish between a home with full accounts and registration in place and one without, and the valuation moves accordingly.

Three years of accounts, current occupancy and fee data, staffing and the latest regulatory inspection all belong in the valuer's hands at instruction. The full valuations guide →