Inside Property Development

Building A Robust Property Business with Saam Lowni

Inside Property Development

Show Notes

In this episode, Paul talks to Saam Lowni a highly successful property entrepreneur who now specialises in providing innovative property finance solutions for investors and developers. Saam has been passionate about property from a very young age, so much so that he worked on building sites, with developers and in real estate offices, sometimes for free, to learn as much as he could.He and Paul discuss his journey, including weathering the 2008 financial crisis and switching from development to becoming a finance broker. They also discuss high yielding income producing assets, making a profit in a tight market and financing options. KEY TAKEAWAYS The property market is cyclical, it regularly goes from boom to bust. Sometimes the cycle is long, other times short. Build a robust business to weather the storms. Having high yielding income producing assets in your portfolio enables you to keep up with payments regardless of financial crisis. Property is a marathon, not a sprint. You have to evolve, spot the trends early and change promptly.Currently, developers cannot rely on house prices rising enough to cover issues and costs that they have not planned for. BEST MOMENTS“S**t like this can, does and will happen, it always has. Boom, bust happens.”“If you don't have a high yielding, income producing asset, you are going to get caught out.”“To be a developer, you need to know your local area and who the landowners are.”“Finance is becoming much more of a problem.”“A proper margin, in my opinion, is at least 20% of GDV.” EPISODE [email protected]https://www.facebook.com/saamlownihttps://www.linkedin.com/in/saamlownihttps://www.instagram.com/saamlowni ABOUT THE HOST Paul Higgs is a Chartered Planning and Development Surveyor with 40+ years' experience in land, planning and development and a 100% success track record in winning planning consents.Paul undertook his first refurb project when he was just 17 and then worked his way up from labouring on building sites to becoming Head of Land for renowned plc housebuilder, Barratt Developments. He managed to escape the corporate world in 2002 to set up what is now a multimillion-pound award-winning property development company, Millbank Group.In 2013 Paul founded the Millbank Land Academy, the UK’s first training company dedicated to property development; to teach established and aspiring developers the insider secrets the big housebuilders don’t want you to know! Paul is also a founding investor and former board director of the industry-leading PropTech Co, LandTech, and has lectured on Advanced Development Valuations on the MSc Property Development at London South Bank University. CONTACT METHODLinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/paul-higgsMillbank Land Academy: https://www.millbanklandacademy.co.ukInstagram - https://www.instagram.com/paulhiggsofficialYouTube - https://www.youtube.com/@InsidePropertyDevelopment

More from Inside Property Development

Feb 4, 2026

In this episode, Paul once again sits down with David Birbeck, one of the most knowledgeable people when it comes to planning and development. Together, they discuss the government´s new draft Planning Practice Guidance (PPG) and how it should work in practice.

Jan 28, 2026

In this episode, Paul sits down with Lucas, a recent Bristol civil engineering graduate, who is considering becoming a property developer. Together, they discuss why everything in development starts with finding and controlling land, how planning policy has evolved to make that both harder and more crucial, and why today’s planning environment might actually be one of the best times to get into development despite a tough sales market.

Jan 21, 2026

In this episode Paul is joined by Steve Morris the co-founder and Managing Director of Linfield Construction, to discuss the viability of building a property development business later in life – especially if you come from a contracting and commercial background rather than following the more typical pure developer route.

Jan 14, 2026

Today, Paul sits down with former Wandsworth councillor and Pocket Living land director and the Managing Director and founder of Urban Sketch Nick Cuff. Drawing on his rare mix of political and development experience, Nick explains what a genuinely pro‑development culture looks like, and why most UK councils are not pro-development.

Jan 7, 2026

How can architects and developers work together to deliver projects that are financially viable, genuinely regenerative – create schemes like this that actually get built as planned?

See all episodes →