Santander and private investment firm Topland Group have launched a £200m funding platform for SME housebuilders.
The Residential Development Financing Platform seeks to encourage new housing developments in established communities. It will provide loans between £2.5m and £20m, with up to 75% loan to cost, and a maximum loan to gross development value of 65%.
The duo said priority will be given to refinancing the development of family homes, townhouses, suburban homes and modern family dwellings for sale to the local domestic market.
There will be no minimum pre-sales requirement, but the housebuilders need to have a track record of delivering schemes of a similar size and complexity.
Andrew Whelan, managing director of real estate finance at Santander, said: “The Residential Development Financing Platform offers a competitive whole-loan solution to the sector as a dedicated provision led by a mainstream lender. Our aim is to support proven SME housebuilders throughout the UK and help promote greater housing supply – something that the UK desperately needs.”
Tom Betts, director, structured finance at Topland Group, said: “This will see two experienced UK real estate lenders come together to provide a tailored lending solution to the UK SME housebuilding market. We believe this is a compelling proposition and look forward to expanding our existing development lending portfolio into mainstream markets.”
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