Blend snagged the sum from a consortium of six large family offices
Property capital firm Blend Network has secured a record £120m ($156.11m) boost to its lending of that extra ‘muscle’ for UK developers.
Blend, backed by OakNorth Bank chairman and former Barclays vice chairman Cyrus Ardalan, snagged the sum from a consortium of six large family offices.
Obtaining a record £120m ($156.11m) committed funding line from such a respected group of family offices is a landmark moment for us and illustrates how much progress we have made as a business in a relatively short time and how our funding is now much more focused on institutional investors, CEO Yann Murciano said.
The extra capital will position the specialised finance provider well for supporting mid-sized residential property developers, to ‘make a greater contribution to solving the country’s housing crisis’, Murciano continued.
The CEO added that the fresh bout of funding will also be used to widen the services it offers property brokers in scouting for lending opportunities.
Lenders have a key role to play in supporting emerging property developers with a view to help them build enough ‘muscle’ so they can make a positive change towards building the homes that the country so desperately needs, the CEO explained last week, in a statement on supporting the next generation of developers.
While the government has pledged to build 300,000 new homes annually by the mid-2020s, onlookers say the promise is lacking.
The Home Builders Federation report last December cast doubt on the target due to post-pandemic financial strain.
A lack of housing stock has led to a frenzy among buyers, with the first step onto the property ladder falling increasingly out of reach.
