Property Finance

Chapter 1Introduction to Property Financing

The concept of financing, understood in its broad sense, embraces all sources of capital investment and, as such, the definition covers both debt and equity indiscriminately. The term financing is indeed taken to apply to any form of capital which may be used to finance an investment project, ranging from the more traditional forms to those which are more innovative, and including both the use of equity capital as well as the various forms of debt capital.¹

The procedures for investment financing are extremely important since they make it possible to improve the investment's ultimate economic result due to the lower cost of the invested capital when debt is used. Moreover, in order to undertake a profitable investment, it must also be financially sustainable, e.g. it must be possible to secure the necessary resources. Eventually, this must all occur in a balanced manner in order to ensure that there is not an excessive financial risk due to the fixed cost of interest payment.² Indeed, were the latter to exceed a certain threshold, it would reduce the economic benefit of lower capital costs and, at the same time, make the investment overly complex due to the excessive restrictions imposed by lenders.³

1.1 Forms of financing: debt and equity

The various forms of capital used to finance an investment can be arranged along a continuum ranging from the two extremes of (pure) debt and (pure) equity. In order to understand where best to ...