Specialist business mortgage broker for companies across Belfast, Northern Ireland

Services, including retail, health and professional and scientific work, account for three quarters of jobs in Belfast, with only 6% in manufacturing and the balance in distribution and construction. The city has grown as a call-centre and back-office location since the 1990s, and the UK Treasury has identified it as a key financial technology hub. US insurers and technology firms such as Allstate, Liberty Mutual and FD Technologies have operations here, and the redeveloped Harbour Estate has added film facilities.

Those employers support a wide base of smaller owner-occupiers: software and consultancy firms buying office floors, professional practices buying period buildings, hospitality businesses serving the visitor trade, and contractors, wholesalers and engineers buying industrial units. An owner-occupier mortgage runs at an indicative 6.0 to 7.5% a year; hotels, pubs and restaurants are priced as trading businesses at around 7.0 to 9.0%. All rates are indicative, subject to status, accounts and valuation.

The port retains commercial and industrial docks. Harland and Wolff, which employed around 35,000 people during the Second World War, returned to shipbuilding in 2025 on the back of a £1.6 billion Royal Navy contract after Navantia, Spain's state-owned shipbuilder, bought the yard. Spirit AeroSystems, which makes aircraft components in the docks area, is the largest manufacturing concern in Northern Ireland, and Thales produces air defence systems in the city. In 2025 Belfast Port and Harbour Estate announced more than £313m of capital projects over five years, including a new deepwater quay.

Road access is good: the M2 and M22 run for 22.5 miles out of the city. Northern Ireland Railways runs suburban lines to Carrickfergus, Larne, Bangor, Lisburn and Portadown, the Enterprise service links Belfast with Dublin, and Belfast Grand Central replaced the Europa Bus Centre and Great Victoria Street station in 2024. Under the Windsor Framework, Northern Ireland effectively remains in both the British domestic and the European Single Market trading areas for goods, which is relevant to distributors choosing a base.

Lenders active in owner-occupier lending typically advance 70 to 75% of the purchase price or valuation, whichever is lower, rising to 80% for strong cases, over 5 to 25 years and sometimes 30. Arrangement fees are usually 1 to 2%. Northern Ireland uses Stamp Duty Land Tax, and HMRC's non-residential rates are 0% up to £150,000, 2% from £150,001 to £250,000 and 5% above £250,000 (rates as at October 2026; check the current rates before you buy).

Illustrative example. A software company buys the freehold of a period office building near the city centre for £900,000. A 75% loan is £675,000, leaving a £225,000 deposit. SDLT on £900,000 is £34,500, so the company needs about £259,500 in cash before legal and valuation fees. Our guide to stamp duty on commercial property shows the slices.

The city council is the planning authority for most local applications, and the lender's solicitor will check that your building's use is lawful before funds are released. Northern Ireland is a separate legal jurisdiction, so the conveyancing must be done by a solicitor qualified here, and the lender's charge is registered through Land and Property Services rather than HM Land Registry. We check at the outset that the lender's legal process covers Northern Ireland security.

Commercial lending to a limited company is unregulated and falls outside the FCA's regulated mortgage perimeter. Where a deal would be regulated, for example lending to a sole trader or individual, or a property where the borrower or a close family member will live in part of it, we refer it to an appropriately authorised firm. For the other council areas, see our Northern Ireland business mortgages page.