Peter Göbel, head of real estate finance, the Netherlands at ING Commercial Banking, is fed up with banks being blamed for the state of permafrost that pervades the Dutch property market. The main reason for this situation is, in his view, that real estate sellers’ price expectations are still high.
ING, the country’s biggest property lender, is open for business. Göbel does not want to say how much the Dutch bank is looking to lend to new businesses this year, but notes that the total figure is in hundreds of millions of euros. The country’s number two and three property lenders, FGH and SNS Property Finance respectively, are less vocal about their willingness to lend this year.
Göbel finds ING’s lending conditions “positive when compared with banks in other countries”. ING is offering loans of average credit and maturity at 70% to 75% LTV and charges 225 to 275 basis points over EURIBOR. That includes a liquidity charge.
“ING is in the market, but for investors it is difficult to put their money where their mouth is,” he says.
