News

Specialist residential assets continue to gain traction with lenders and investors looking for stable incomes, strong demand drivers, and diversification beyond standard buy‑to‑let. Supported living and co‑living sit at the forefront of this shift, each offering distinct operational models and funding considerations.

Supported Living

Supported living provides accommodation for individuals requiring varying levels of care. Investors typically either operate the care business themselves or lease the property to an external provider.

There are different ways for investors to approach this asset class with benefits across each scenario depending on client need – this can be discussed with the Omega team in initial conversations to better understand the funding solutions available.

There are varying approaches, structures and business types, but funding solutions are available for each scenario. The two most typical requests are:

1. Lease to the Investor’s Own Care Business

The investor owns both the property and the care company, with the care provider leasing the property and contracting with the local authority for support services. Reviewing the full trading accounts remains key as well as understanding the experience of the operators in place.

2. Lease to an Independent Care Provider

The investor owns the property and leases it to a specialist third-party provider, the care contracts sit with that provider and not the client. The client holding a specialist residential investment asset with benefit of heightened yield and longer term secure income stream.

Supported living continues to attract significant capital because it offers in many cases combination of government‑backed income streams, minimal void risk, and strong social‑impact credentials, an increasingly important factor for clients seeking purpose alongside performance. With structural demand rising due to demographic shifts and ongoing policy pressures, the sector benefits from long‑term momentum that is attractive to investors in the specialist residential market and operators. This makes it an appealing proposition for our introducing partners, brokers and IFAs clients, who may be looking to diversify their portfolios with stable, purposeful assets.

Co‑Living vs HMOs

Co‑living has moved beyond traditional HMOs, offering a more professional, design‑led product aimed at young professionals and urban renters.

What Differentiates Co‑Living

• High‑quality communal spaces
• All‑inclusive rents
• Community‑driven living and amenities
• Professional management and consistent standards

Higher yields than standard buy‑to‑let and strong demand from renters priced out of one‑bed units means we are seeing increased enquiries for Co-Living properties in addition to enquiries to undertake the refurbishment and conversion of residential units into Co-Living developments.

Case Study

Client required finance to convert a large residential house into a multi-unit Co-Living property. We sourced funding to meet 100% of the conversion costs at 4.90% over base inclusive of full interest roll up and fees built into the gross loan.

Specialist Residential Investment: Supported Living and Modern Co-Living

Both supported living and co‑living signal a clear evolution toward needs‑driven, professionally managed residential models, and the market fundamentals behind them are resonating strongly with lenders and investors.

With a range of refurbishment and development finance solutions available, we can assist client requirements where the conversion or build of these units is required. Before also focusing on the term debt options across care home mortgages, Co-living finance, traditional HMO mortgages and all variants of specialist residential asset types.

Speak to the team today for a free initial quote and advice.