LendInvest completes its largest development finance deal
LENDINVEST has completed its largest development finance deal to date, which will fund the construction of 66 new homes in West Drayton, a town set to benefit from a Crossrail station in 2019.
The online mortgage lender, which is a member of the Peer-to-Peer Finance Association, has lent a total of £21m to Kearns Property Management and Development.
It first provided a bridging loan for the borrower to acquire the site, which subsequently transitioned to a £17m development loan to finance the construction. Then LendInvest lent a further £4m to the borrower to purchase a neighbouring site that became available.
The project is due to complete by Autumn 2018, with the total gross development value forecast to exceed £31m. The 26 houses and 40 apartments across the two sites will qualify for the government’s help to buy scheme.
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“Our role is to ensure we are offering both the products and the service that provides our developers with the funding and support they need at each touchpoint of their journey,” said Steve Larkin, director of development finance at LendInvest.
“From planning to completion, we know that working closely with a borrower and understanding their end vision is the best way to do this.”
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“LendInvest have been a fantastic partner to work with since the beginning of this development,” said Peter Kearns, owner of Kearns Property Management and Development.
“Their flexible approach allowed us to finance the development through from pre-planning to enhanced planning. The team has been brilliant and more importantly, they are always on hand to help every step of the way.”
In March, LendInvest partnered with Merseyside Pension Fund to finance a £12m loan for a new hotel and residential project in London’s Canary Wharf.
The move marked the beginning of a new strategy to provide larger loans to established borrowers investing in and developing property around the UK, the platform said at the time.
LendInvest has channelled over £968m of short-term project finance to UK landlords, investors and developers since it launched in 2008.