Commercial Mortgages Portsea and Gunwharf Quays

The Portsea and Gunwharf Quays commercial property market

Gunwharf Quays is the flagship outlet retail and leisure destination on the central Solent and one of the most institutionally owned single commercial assets in Portsmouth. The Land Securities scheme combines outlet retail accommodation, marina-fronting restaurant and bar units, the Spinnaker Tower visitor attraction and a substantial managed apart-hotel and serviced-apartment stack against a Solent visitor catchment of several million a year through the Wightlink ferry terminal, the cross-harbour Hovertravel link and the Gunwharf Quays car-borne footfall from the M275 and the A3. Around the scheme, the Portsea grid carries one of the densest semi-commercial and HMO conversion blocks in PO1, Class E ground-floor retail with sui generis HMO upper floors trading against the University of Portsmouth and Naval Base civilian catchment.

Transactions inside the Gunwharf Quays scheme are dominated by Land Securities-led institutional asset management and a tightly held outlet retail leaseholder base, while around the scheme the deep-volume zone for our PO1 Portsea and Gunwharf commercial mortgage book sits in the £400K to £2.5M bracket, marina F&B trading-business refinance, small flag-operated apart-hotel freehold, Class E and HMO mixed-use blocks across the Portsea grid, and small mixed-use blocks along Queen Street. Pricing currently 6.5 to 8.5% pa for clean tourist-led leisure investment along Gunwharf Road, with strong-covenant outlet retail and flag-operated apart-hotel stock at 6.0 to 7.0% and independent marina F&B and Portsea semi-commercial at 7.5 to 8.5%. Refinancing volumes picked up materially through 2025 and 2026 as five-year fixes from the post-pandemic hospitality recovery cycle matured.

HM Land Registry residential transactions inside the PO1 Portsea and Gunwharf footprint cluster around the Gunwharf Quays managed apart-hotel and serviced-apartment stack and the Portsea terraced grid, with recent files including the Isambard Brunel Road PO1 2RX flat at £105,000 that signals the central PO1 leasehold flat trade and the Portsea terraced freehold market that sits behind the HMO conversion pipeline. They are not a direct commercial signal but they confirm that the Portsea and Gunwharf catchment continues to absorb residential supply against the backdrop of the wider Portsmouth tourist economy, which underwrites the ground-floor outlet retail, marina F&B and Class E plus HMO semi-commercial income that most of our Portsea and Gunwharf Quays commercial mortgage lending sits against.

Active commercial property types in Portsea and Gunwharf Quays

Lender appetite for Gunwharf Quays outlet retail, marina F&B and Portsea semi-commercial

Tourist-led leisure and outlet retail is the deepest single sector in Portsea and Gunwharf Quays. Cynergy Bank sits at the top of our shortlist on Gunwharf Road and harbour-edge marina F&B, restaurant and apart-hotel trading-business freehold, prime independent stock at 60 to 70% LTV and 7.0 to 8.0% pa on EBITDA cover at 1.5 to 1.8x. Shawbrook, InterBay Commercial and Allica Bank dominate the Portsea Class E ground and sui generis HMO upper mixed-use semi-commercial bracket at 65 to 75% LTV and 7.0 to 8.5% pa on blended ICR. LendInvest covers refurbishment and bridge-to-let where the Portsea Class E plus HMO block is being repositioned, including the canonical 26/00251/FUL archetype with mansard extension. Lloyds, NatWest, Barclays and Santander compete on the largest Land Securities-scheme outlet retail leaseholder freehold and flag-operated apart-hotel deals at 60 to 65% LTV and 6.5 to 7.5% pa, with HSBC UK Business Banking running its Portsmouth presence out of the Gunwharf scheme. Allica Bank is active across South Coast hospitality and tourist-led F&B on Gunwharf and Spinnaker-adjacent stock. HTB, Cambridge & Counties, Paragon, Together and YBS Commercial take selected Portsea mixed-use, HMO portfolio and apart-hotel deals where the operator track record and covenant fit each lender policy. Hampshire Trust Bank is headquartered in Hampshire and brings strong local knowledge to Portsea semi-commercial, HMO portfolio and Gunwharf-adjacent owner-occupier freehold deals. Refinancing on a stabilised marina F&B or outlet retail asset typically prices 7.0 to 8.5% pa at 60 to 70% LTV. Commercial mortgages are unregulated lending and fall outside the FCA regulated mortgage perimeter, we do not hold FCA authorisation because the products we arrange are unregulated.