Ground Up Real Estate Development Pro Forma Modeling

I'm looking for any videos/classes that will give me a good base for modeling a ground up real estate development pro forma. I've been on the development side of things for quite some time. Our company develops single family residential homes and provide our investors a preferred return per project.

In the past, we have developed projects and sold them to HF's. Usually 15-30 homes at a time.

I would love to learn more about the financial side of our business but cannot find any videos or material that specifically cover what we are currently doing.

I've looked at Justin Kivel's material but his models are built around stabilizing projects for x amount of time, not selling once projects are complete.

I would like to build pro formas for our build to sell revenue model to show potential investors.

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

4 Comments
 

I learned all my financial modeling from BIWS (Breaking Into Wall Street), specifically the real estate course. If your company is developing single family homes and then selling them upon completion, I don't see why this would be different from a condo development sellout with a waterfall returns analysis. Either way, if you truly understand the financial concepts (which aren't very complicated), you can model anything you want. At the end of the day, what it really comes down to is Revenue - Cost = Profit. Financial modeling just aims to add more details into that formula such as hold periods, cost of capital etc...honestly, sometimes I think financial modeling is just a way for GP's to justify squeezing every bp out of LP's.

 

BIWS has a good, very simple model to learn the basic mechanics of a construction loan draw and how to incorporate that into a model for a ground-up development. Once you know the basics, Adventures in CRE has a great, more complex development model template.

Also FYI - typically a build to sell/merchant build development means that the property is built, then the developer leases it up to a stabilized occupancy, then it is sold the month the property stabilizes. This is to give the buyer a turnkey asset so they aren't inheriting a fully vacant building. So that needs to be accounted for in your model.

 

Autem et reiciendis sed. Cum expedita sit vitae in eos nihil voluptas repellat. Et in laudantium culpa incidunt quis. Temporibus est eos et saepe.

Veniam explicabo exercitationem dolorem voluptatem. Eveniet officia eligendi quasi dignissimos odit eum. Sapiente eligendi laboriosam mollitia libero quis doloremque.

Career Advancement Opportunities

July 2026 Investment Banking

  • Evercore 01 99.4%
  • Moelis & Company 01 98.9%
  • JPMorgan 01 98.3%
  • Guggenheim Partners 01 97.7%
  • Morgan Stanley 07 97.1%

Overall Employee Satisfaction

July 2026 Investment Banking

  • Moelis & Company No 99.4%
  • Morgan Stanley 02 98.9%
  • Evercore 01 98.3%
  • BMO Capital Markets 12 97.7%
  • Banco Santander 01 97.1%

Professional Growth Opportunities

July 2026 Investment Banking

  • Evercore 01 99.4%
  • Moelis & Company 01 98.9%
  • Morgan Stanley 06 98.3%
  • Goldman Sachs 01 97.7%
  • JPMorgan No 97.1%

Total Avg Compensation

July 2026 Investment Banking

  • Vice President (15) $434
  • Associates (46) $258
  • 3rd+ Year Analyst (8) $210
  • 2nd Year Analyst (22) $179
  • Intern/Summer Associate (13) $156
  • 1st Year Analyst (79) $150
  • Intern/Summer Analyst (73) $101
notes
16 IB Interviews Notes

“... there’s no excuse to not take advantage of the resources out there available to you. Best value for your $ are the...”

Leaderboard

1
redever's picture
redever
99.2
2
Secyh62's picture
Secyh62
99.0
3
BankonBanking's picture
BankonBanking
99.0
4
kanon's picture
kanon
99.0
5
DrApeman's picture
DrApeman
98.9
6
GameTheory's picture
GameTheory
98.9
7
dosk17's picture
dosk17
98.9
8
CompBanker's picture
CompBanker
98.9
9
Betsy Massar's picture
Betsy Massar
98.9
10
Mimbs's picture
Mimbs
98.8
success
From 10 rejections to 1 dream investment banking internship

“... I believe it was the single biggest reason why I ended up with an offer...”