Real Estate Development Financial Model

At this stage you have to consider the amount of investment and timing (for the full-scope construction project you will have a capex program with significant costs at all stages).

The project is often financed by a combination of debt and equity, and for the debt portion there can be different LTV assumptions, interest rates, repayment conditions, loan fees.

To bridge any gaps in funding, you can take a mezzanine loan. Usually this loan is relatively small and has a higher interest rate.

Once a new property is built, it is leased out to tenants and starts generating rental revenues. There are many operating parameters to take into account: lease terms (rental rates, rent indexation), vacancy rate, void periods between tenants, operating costs, non-reimbursable expenses (“opex leakage”), brokerage fees and many else. It is important to model those parameters properly as they have a significant effect on project profitability.

A stabilized property has a more conservative risk profile. This means you can draw financing for it at lower interest rate, so you refinance your initial construction loan with a new one, under better conditions.

These conditions, again, can be very diverse. For instance, the amount of new loan can be the same as the old one. Or you can borrow more money (as much as refinancing LTV allows) and distribute (“cash out”) the excess between the owners. In either case the new loan terms will include the date of refinancing, interest rate, timing of repayment, fees and commissions.

Finally, after holding the property for a certain period comes the time to sell it to a new investor. A capital gain can be achieved owing to increased profit and expansion of multiples (compression of cap rate). It is important to test several scenarios or run a proper sensitivity analysis. If the project is made in partnership by several co-investors, there will be distributions of profits in line with agreements (“waterfall”) which can also be modeled upfront.

I have developed this model to analyze real estate construction projects considering the above parameters. The model is sufficiently detailed and yet generic enough to be used for virtually any real estate project. It produces cash flow statements at asset and investor levels. It also calculates key profitability metrics (IRR, equity multiple, gross return, peak equity requirements) for every investor.

The model findings are illustrated by professionally designed magazine-quality charts.