Lenders’ ambitions are increasing at rate of circa 25% year-on-year to reach £75bn in 2015, according to Savills.
The agent’s 26th annual Financing Property presentation identified an unprecedented number of new lenders driving this rise, with 200 entities planning to lend to UK real estate.
This number was boosted at the rate of one new entrant a week in the past year, continuing the pace set in the previous 12-month period.
As the number of entrants grows, lending ambitions have increased from £45.7bn in 2013, to £58.3bn this year and to a target of £75bn in 2015.
This drive to lend has created an imbalance in the market, said Savills’ senior director William Newsom, as lending opportunities stand at only £40bn.
It has also put pressure on margins and led to the first signs of LTVs increasing, although Savills maintains that the foundations for growth are solid.
The number of lenders that have written two or more loans of £100m or more in the past 12 month has swelled, with Canada Life, JP Morgan, GE Capital and Starwood all joining the agent’s “big ticket” lending list.
