P R I V A T E E Q U I T Y P R O F E S S I O N A L S
Mortgages structured around carried interest, co-investment, and fund-linked compensation
Whether you're a VP buying your first family home, a Principal navigating deferred carry, or a Partner with income across multiple fund vintages, we understand how your compensation works — and which lenders treat it most favourably.
W H Y A S P E C I A L I S T B R O K E RWhy Private Equity Professionals Need a Specialist Mortgage Broker
You earn well. You'll probably be fine. That's what most PE professionals assume — and in many cases, they're right. But the way private equity compensation is structured creates problems that most brokers have never encountered.
The issue isn't income level. It's the composition. A PE professional's total compensation typically includes a base salary, an annual cash bonus, and carried interest — a share of the fund's profits paid out over years as investments are realised. Carry is often the largest component of long-term wealth, but from a mortgage lender's perspective, it barely exists. Most mainstream lenders exclude carried interest from affordability entirely because the timing is uncertain and the amounts are contingent on fund performance.
That means the income a lender will actually use to calculate your borrowing capacity may be a fraction of what you earn — or expect to earn. A Partner with £300k base salary, a £200k annual bonus, and £1m+ of unrealised carry may find that only the salary and a discounted portion of the bonus count toward the mortgage. The carry, despite being contractually allocated, adds nothing.
We work with PE professionals across the career ladder — from Associates at mega-funds buying their first London flat, to Partners at mid-market firms purchasing £3m+ family homes. We understand the income structures, we know which lenders handle them and which don't, and we can give you a clear answer on what's achievable, usually within the first call.
Why private equity income often needs specialist mortgage structuring →
Y O U R T E A M
David Walsh
Director & Mortgage Broker
Founder of Kite Mortgages. Specialist in complex income structures for City professionals. Advises on mortgage strategy for high earners with partnership income, bonus-heavy pay, equity compensation, and foreign currency earnings.
View profile →
Simon Hart
Mortgage & Protection Adviser
Mortgage adviser at Kite Mortgages. Specialises in high-value purchases and remortgages for City professionals. Works with clients navigating complex income structures including variable pay, carried interest, and multi-currency earnings.
View profile →I N C O M E A S S E S S M E N THow Lenders Assess Private Equity Income
Associates and Vice Presidents
At the earlier stages of a PE career, compensation is relatively straightforward from a mortgage perspective. You're typically on PAYE with a base salary and an annual cash bonus. Carry allocations may exist but usually haven't crystallised, and lenders won't consider them.
For Associates and VPs, the mortgage process looks similar to other bonus-led finance roles: base salary assessed at face value, with bonus income averaged over the last one to two years. The key variables are how much of the bonus the lender will use (commonly 50 to 75% of a two-year average), whether they apply a cap relative to base salary, and how many years of bonus history they require.
Where PE professionals at this level differ from investment bankers is that bonuses tend to be more modest relative to base — the real upside comes later through carry. This means borrowing capacity is more constrained at the junior end. A VP on £180k base with a £100k bonus is borrowing primarily on salary. The carry allocation sitting in the background adds nothing to the affordability calculation with any mainstream lender.
If you're a first-time buyer or upsizing at VP level, the strategy is usually to maximise what the lender will count from your salary and bonus, select the lender with the most favourable treatment of discretionary bonuses, and structure the mortgage so it remains manageable until carry starts to crystallise. We often recommend a product term that aligns broadly with your fund's expected disposal timeline, so you have options when larger income events arrive.
Principals and Directors
At Principal and Director level, the compensation picture shifts. Bonuses are typically larger, and you may have started to receive carry distributions from earlier fund vintages. The question becomes: can any of that carry be used?
The answer is nuanced. Carry that has been paid to you — crystallised, received as cash, and appearing on your bank statements or tax return — can sometimes be presented to lenders as part of your income. But it depends on the pattern. A single carry payment of £400k from one fund exit is usually treated as a one-off windfall, not recurring income. Two or three payments across consecutive years from different realisations starts to look more like a sustainable income stream, and some lenders will consider it.
The practical challenge is evidencing this in a way underwriters accept. Carry shows up differently depending on your fund structure — it might appear as a capital distribution from a partnership, a payment from a carried interest vehicle, or as a mix of capital gains and income on your tax return. Most mainstream lenders don't have a standard process for evaluating it. They need help understanding what they're looking at.
This is where we add the most value. We prepare a clear income breakdown separating base salary, cash bonus, and historical carry distributions, with supporting evidence for each. We present the carry component as a track record rather than a one-off, and we target lenders whose underwriters are comfortable exercising judgement on non-standard income. In some cases, this means going to a private bank. In others, we can achieve a strong outcome with a mainstream large-loans team — if we position the income correctly from the outset.
Partners and Managing Directors
At Partner level, income becomes genuinely complex. You're likely to have a base salary, annual bonus, carried interest across multiple fund vintages (some crystallised, some unrealised), co-investment returns, and potentially management fee income or distributions from the GP entity. Total compensation can be substantial — but the proportion of it that a mortgage lender will recognise may be surprisingly low.
Carried interest is the core issue. Most mainstream lenders exclude it from affordability because it depends on fund exits, the timing is uncertain, and the amounts are not known at application stage. Even where carry has been paid historically, many lenders treat it as a capital gain rather than income — and capital gains don't count toward mortgage affordability in most standard models.
The result is that a Partner earning £350k base, £250k bonus, and £500k or more in annual carry distributions may find their assessed income is limited to salary plus a portion of the bonus — perhaps £450k to £500k total. At 5x, that's £2.25m to £2.5m of borrowing. For a Partner looking at a £3m to £5m family home, that creates a gap.
There are two routes to bridging that gap:
Co-Investment and Fund Commitments
Private equity professionals at Principal level and above are typically required to co-invest alongside their fund — committing personal capital to the fund's investments. This creates a specific tension with mortgage planning: cash that might otherwise serve as a deposit or reserves is locked into the fund for the life of the investment.
Lenders don't give credit for co-investment holdings. They can't be used as a deposit, they don't count as savings, and returns from co-investment are treated the same way as carry — excluded from affordability unless and until they've been received.
From a mortgage perspective, the practical effect is that PE professionals often have less available cash than their income would suggest. A significant proportion of wealth is tied up in illiquid fund interests. We factor this into the structuring: if cash is constrained because of co-invest commitments, we may recommend a higher LTV than the client might otherwise choose, or structure payments to preserve liquidity for upcoming fund calls.
Why maximum borrowing isn't always the right outcome for high earners →
B O R R O W I N G P O W E RHow Much Can a Private Equity Professional Borrow?
Most PE professionals with clean credit and manageable outgoings can expect to borrow between 4.5 and 5.5 times their assessed income. Some lenders offer enhanced multiples — up to 6x — for recognised professionals at certain income thresholds and LTV levels.
But the headline multiple is almost irrelevant for PE professionals. What matters is what counts as "income" in the first place.
M O R T G A G E S T R U C T U R E SStructures for PE Professionals
Interest-Only for PE Professionals
Interest-only is particularly relevant if your income today is salary and bonus, but you expect significant carry distributions over the next three to seven years. Keeping monthly commitments low during the period before carry crystallises means you retain flexibility to make substantial capital repayments as fund exits generate cash.
Most lenders offer interest-only on the first portion of the loan — typically up to 75% LTV — with the remainder on capital repayment. The catch is that interest-only requires a credible repayment strategy. For PE professionals, this typically means demonstrating that future carry distributions, investment realisations, or property sale will cover the capital. Some lenders accept carry allocations as evidence of a repayment vehicle; others are more restrictive.
Part interest-only is the most common structure we use for PE clients — it reduces monthly outgoings materially while maintaining a disciplined repayment path on the non-interest-only portion.
Offset for Carry and Co-Invest
If you’re holding significant cash reserves — whether from accumulated bonuses, a recent carry distribution, or liquidity set aside for tax liabilities and future co-invest calls — an offset mortgage lets you reduce the interest you pay without committing the cash permanently.
Your savings sit in a linked account and offset your mortgage balance, so you pay interest only on the net amount. If you have a £2m mortgage and £400k in the offset account waiting for a co-invest call and a tax bill, you only pay interest on £1.6m — but you keep full access to the £400k when you need it.
The rate is typically slightly higher than a standard product, but the net effect is substantial if you’re routinely parking £200k+ alongside the mortgage. This is particularly useful for PE professionals who receive large but irregular cash inflows and need to maintain liquidity for fund commitments, tax payments, and co-investment obligations.
C A R R I E D I N T E R E S T T A X C H A N G E SCarried Interest and the April 2026 Tax Changes
From 6 April 2026, the UK tax treatment of carried interest is changing significantly. Carry will move from the capital gains tax regime to a new income tax framework, taxed as profits of a deemed trade. For qualifying carried interest, a 72.5% multiplier applies, giving an effective top rate of approximately 34.1% — broadly in line with the current 32% CGT rate, but with additional National Insurance contributions.
For PE professionals planning a property purchase, these changes have practical implications for mortgage structuring:
We keep up to date with how these changes affect mortgage structuring and lender treatment. If you're purchasing or remortgaging around the April 2026 transition, we'll factor the tax implications into our advice.
L E N D E R S E L E C T I O N
Private Bank vs High Street
Our position is consistent: if it works with a mainstream lender, go mainstream. The rates are lower, the fees are lower, and mainstream large-loans teams are now very capable with complex income.
For PE professionals, the decision point is usually whether carry needs to count toward affordability. If salary and bonus alone — with the right lender and right structuring — get you to the borrowing level you need, there's no reason to pay the private bank premium. And in many cases, they can. We see more PE clients complete on mainstream terms than most people expect.
Private banks come into play when salary and bonus genuinely aren't enough. That might be because the loan is very large relative to assessable income, you need interest-only on the full amount, or you want the lender to take a view on carry, co-investment returns, or overall net worth. In those cases, the flexibility of bespoke underwriting justifies the higher cost.
But the premium is real. A private bank charging 0.5% more on a £2m mortgage costs you £10,000 a year in additional interest. Unless the flexibility is necessary, you're better off on the high street.
We'll always show you both options when both are viable. An informed decision based on a real comparison is always better than being pushed toward one route.
C A R E E R T I M I N G
Timing Your Mortgage Around Career Changes
Private equity careers follow a different rhythm from most finance roles. Promotions are less frequent but more significant. Income can change materially between fund vintages. And the biggest income events — carry distributions — may not arrive for years after the work that generated them.
C A S E S T U D I E SHow we've helped private equity professionals
R E L A T E D G U I D E S
Explore related guides
Complex Income Structures
How lenders assess multi-source, variable, and non-standard income
Large Loans
Routes for borrowing above £1m via high street and private banks
Interest-Only Mortgages
Keep monthly payments low while carry crystallises — overpay when fund exits land
Offset Mortgages
Reduce interest while keeping cash accessible for co-invest calls and tax reserves
Private Bank Mortgages
When bespoke underwriting is worth the premium
Protection for Professionals
Why employer cover leaves gaps — especially when carry is your biggest asset
A R T I C L E SArticles for private equity professionals
F A Q sFrequently Asked Questions
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Generally no. Most mainstream lenders exclude carried interest because the timing and amounts depend on fund exits and cannot be predicted at application stage. Carry that has been paid — crystallised and received as cash — can sometimes be considered by lenders willing to exercise judgement on non-standard income, but it's typically treated as a windfall rather than recurring income. Private banks are more likely to take a holistic view. Where you have a multi-year track record of carry distributions, we can present that pattern to lenders as evidence of a sustainable income stream.
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Typically between 4.5 and 5.5 times assessed income, with some lenders offering up to 6x for recognised professionals. But the critical question is what the lender counts as income. If only salary and a discounted portion of bonus are included, the assessed figure may be significantly below your actual earnings. Two lenders looking at the same income can produce borrowing figures that differ by hundreds of thousands of pounds — depending on how they treat the bonus and whether they consider any carry.
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Yes — this is the most common scenario we see. We structure the mortgage around salary and bonus income, which are sufficient for mainstream lending in most cases. The key is selecting a product and repayment structure that works before carry arrives but leaves flexibility to make capital repayments once it does. Part interest-only structures with no early repayment charges are often the best fit.
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The changes move carry from capital gains tax to income tax, at an effective rate of approximately 34.1% for qualifying carry. For mortgage purposes, the most immediate effect is on cash flow — carry will fall within the payments-on-account regime, potentially bringing forward tax liabilities. Over time, the reclassification as trading income may make it easier to present to certain lenders, but it's too early to say how quickly affordability models will adapt. We'll factor the tax implications into our structuring advice.
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Yes. Part interest-only is one of the most common structures we use for PE clients. It keeps monthly commitments manageable during the period before carry crystallises, while maintaining a repayment element on part of the loan. Full interest-only is available through private banks and some mainstream lenders, subject to a credible repayment strategy — which for PE professionals typically means demonstrating the capacity to repay through future income events.
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Lenders don't give credit for co-investment holdings — they can't be used as a deposit or counted as savings. But co-invest commitments do affect your available cash. If a significant portion of your liquidity is committed to fund investments, we factor this into the structuring — potentially recommending a higher LTV to preserve cash for upcoming fund calls, or selecting a lender whose product allows you to manage the mortgage flexibly around large, irregular cash flows.
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Our default is mainstream if it fits — the rates and fees are lower. We find that more PE clients can complete on high street terms than most expect, provided the income is positioned correctly and the right lender is selected. Private banks come into play when salary and bonus alone won't get to the required borrowing, when you need fully bespoke income assessment including carry, or when the loan size and structure require flexibility that mainstream products can't offer. We'll show you both options so you can compare on cost and terms.
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We'll give you indicative figures the same day as our first call — usually within a few hours. Once we have your documents (typically P60s, recent payslips, bonus award letters, tax calculations, and bank statements), we run a Decision in Principle within 24 hours.
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For salary and bonus: P60s for the last two years, three months of payslips, and three months of bank statements showing income credits. For carry: tax calculations (SA302s) and Tax Year Overviews if carry distributions have been received. For co-investment: we may ask for a summary of outstanding commitments. If your firm can provide an income confirmation letter or carry allocation summary, this helps — though not all lenders will require it.
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For standard residential mortgages: no fee on loans above £500k, fixed fee of £500 for loans between £250k and £500k, and £1,000 for loans below £250k. For specialist cases — which may include situations involving complex fund structures, foreign currency income, or expatriate arrangements — there is a fixed fee of £1,000 at all loan sizes. We'll confirm which fee applies in the first meeting, before any work begins.
C L I E N T R E V I E W S
What our clients say
H O W I T W O R K SFour steps to your mortgage
01
Initial call
A 30–40-minute conversation to understand your situation, income structure, and what you’re looking to do. We’ll give you indicative figures the same day.
02
Documents & DIP
We tell you exactly what we need — typically P60s, payslips, bonus letters, tax calculations, and bank statements. For carry distributions, we may ask for SA302s and Tax Year Overviews. Once received, we run a Decision in Principle within 24 hours.
03
Application & management
We handle everything from full application through to completion — managing the lender, chasing solicitors, updating your agent, and keeping you informed throughout.
04
Ongoing monitoring
We check rates on all live cases every two weeks. If a better deal becomes available before completion, we’ll flag it. After completion, we’ll contact you before your deal expires to review your options.
We also review your protection needs alongside the mortgage. Many PE professionals have employer-provided life cover and income protection, but these typically lapse if you leave the firm — and the gap can be substantial at senior levels. We’ll highlight where your employer cover falls short and give you the option to put personal protection in place.