Development cash flow appraisal, as the monitoring surveyor sees it.
Twenty four months of cash flow: land in month one, build spread over the programme, equity in first, drawdowns against the balance, interest charged on what is drawn, sales receipts repaying the loan, and the peak balance the facility has to cover. Plus a sensitivity table that shows where the margin stops being fundable.
By Dominic Whitecross, Co-Founder, HyLend. Last reviewed September 2026.
Get the template
Name and email, and the file is on its way. We use the email to send the link and, if you tick the box, occasional deal notes from the broking desk. Nothing else, and one click to stop.
What the template does
The basic template sizes a facility. This one tests whether the facility survives the programme. You set when the build starts and how long it runs, when sales begin and over how many months, the equity you inject first, and the facility agreed. The Cashflow tab then builds the drawn balance month by month, charging interest only on the previous month's balance, drawing the arrangement fee at first drawdown, and applying sales receipts to repay the loan until it reaches zero.
The Inputs tab checks the facility against both lender caps and, crucially, whether the peak drawn balance stays inside the facility. When it does not, the answer is more equity in first or a larger facility, and the template says which.
The worked example in the file
| Line | Example | What it shows |
|---|---|---|
| Facility agreed | £2,450,000 | Inside both caps |
| Equity in first | £700,000 | Absorbs month one and part of month two |
| Peak drawn balance | £2,270,131 | In month 14, the month before sales begin |
| Total interest | £166,139 | On the actual balance, well below rate times facility |
| Profit on cost | 26.3% | Fundable |
| Balance at month 17 | Nil | Sales receipts have repaid the loan |
Push the first sale out by three months and the peak balance rises, the interest rises with it, and the facility can breach. That is what lenders mean when they say the exit is the deal.
The sensitivity table
Profit and profit on cost across GDV moving from minus 10% to plus 10% and build cost from nil to plus 15%. Read it the way a lender does: the cell where profit on cost falls below about 17% is where senior debt alone stops funding the scheme, and it is usually closer to the base case than developers expect. Development finance rates and fees →
What it assumes, plainly
- Build costs spread evenly across the build months. Real programmes front or back load; adjust the start month and duration to test it.
- Sales received evenly across the sales period. Block disposals and phased completions differ.
- Interest charged monthly on the previous month's closing balance. Arrangement fee drawn at first drawdown, exit fee paid at redemption.
- The sensitivity table holds finance cost at the base case, which slightly understates the effect of a cost overrun.
Development Appraisal (Detailed) FAQs
How is this different from the basic appraisal template?
The basic template sizes the facility from totals. This one models the programme month by month, so you can see the peak balance, the real interest on a staged drawdown, and whether the facility survives a delayed sale. Use the basic one to decide whether a scheme is worth pursuing and this one before you talk to a lender.
Why does the peak drawn balance matter?
Because the facility is a ceiling, not a cheque. If the balance including rolled interest exceeds it before sales arrive, the lender will not fund the shortfall and the scheme stalls at the worst possible moment. The template tests it explicitly and tells you whether to put more equity in first or seek a larger facility.
What does equity in first mean?
Development lenders almost always require the borrower's equity to be spent before the facility is drawn. The template applies your equity to the first costs, land and early works, and only starts drawing the loan once the equity is exhausted. That is why the drawn balance in the example starts low and builds.
Can I change the drawdown profile?
The programme inputs control it: build start month, build duration, first sale month and sales period. Between them they shape the balance curve. If you need a bespoke phasing, the cash flow rows are ordinary formulas you can override month by month.
Does it include mezzanine?
Not on this template. It models a single senior facility. Where combined leverage with a mezzanine tranche is needed, model the senior here, then treat the mezzanine as additional equity in first with its own cost, or ask us to structure it.