This is an excellent new deal for us and an exciting new relationship. The location is outstanding; we are confident in the developer’s plans and believe the units will be very popular with buyers in the local market.
We are delighted to announce that Ingenious Real Estate has completed one of its largest deals to date. The team closed an £18.5 million development facility to construct 39 flats and 24,000sqft of office space in London’s thriving Southwark district.
Partnering with a highly skilled and experienced developer, the mixed use deal has a GDV in excess of £36m and represents one of Ingenious’ most exciting and interesting schemes thus far. The scheme includes a large amount of initially unlet commercial space and further demonstrates our ability to provide bespoke and flexible financing for high quality and diverse schemes in the UK market.
Ingenious Real Estate has provided over £250 million in UK residential and commercial loan facilities, firmly cementing the business as a leading investor in the UK property market.
We are delighted to announce that the Ingenious Real Estate team has completed its two largest deals to date. The team has provided a £32 million bridging facility to part fund the acquisition of the former Honey Monster Factory in Southall for future development, and an £18 million facility to fund the acquisition and construction of a premier waterside site in Bristol.
Ingenious Real Estate has provided over £220 million in UK residential and commercial loan facilities, firmly cementing the business as a leading investor in the UK property market.
Acquisition of the Honey Monster Factory: Ingenious Real Estate has provided a bridging facility to a consortium led by Galliard Homes one of the UK’s largest residential developers, to assist with the purchase of the 16 acre West London site. Galliard will work closely with Ealing Council to design and to deliver the regeneration of the landmark site over the coming years.
The project is linked to the wider development of Southall, which is set to benefit from the opening of a new Crossrail station, bringing with it much reduced journey times to the West End and the City.
Development of Brandon Yard Bristol: The team has also provided an £18 million development facility to leading national developers Acorn Property, who will utilise the facility to fund the construction of a one-acre plot bordering the River Avon. The project will comprise 56 bespoke designed modern apartments and two townhouses and will incorporate listed features. Over 20% of units were reserved prior to construction commencing which can be attributed to the ongoing demand for attractive and affordable residential property in the area. The facility took only four weeks to complete from the issuance of heads of terms.
Commenting on the deals, Tom Brown, Head of Ingenious Real Estate, said: “The size of these facilities represents a significant milestone for the Ingenious team as we further realise and deliver our growth ambitions in UK property markets. The quality of these projects and the developers we have partnered with underline our credentials and reputation in the sector.”
Halifax, this month reported the first quarterly decline in UK house prices (0.2%) since November 2012, annual house price growth however, remained at 3.8%. It would seem that warnings prior to last year’s EU Referendum that Brexit could lead to a 10% fall in house prices have so far, at least, proved unfounded.
Fast forward almost a year from the referendum and Theresa May has triggered Article 50 and called a general election that she looks set to win with an increased Conservative Party majority. Despite all the related economic uncertainty property prices and their relationship to income ratios remain at an all-time high. Despite signs the market may be cooling especially in Central London, there are good reasons to remain positive about prospects for long term price growth and market stability:-
The reality is that Brexit has not happened yet, formal negotiations are yet to begin and the current period of uncertainty looks set to continue, at least until the UK’s relationship with Europe is finally decided although this shows no sign of being resolved anytime soon.
Ingenious Real Estate remains very much open for business; we continue to expand both our team and our product range. Despite the ongoing uncertainty, we are winning mandates, have a growing pipeline from both new and existing clients, drawing on our experience, contacts and flexibility.
If you have any opportunities you would like to discuss with us or would like to know more about any aspect of what we do, feel free to get in touch. We can normally provide an indicative response within 48 hours.
Ingenious Real Estate is thrilled to announce the completion of a £4m bridging facility to assist an existing customer finalise planning for a scheme of 32 flats in central Gerrards Cross.
Gerrards Cross has remained one of England’s most sought after villages outside of London thanks to its excellent selection of local schools and direct commuter links.
Tom Brown, Head of Real Estate Finance comments “A second deal to one of our best developers in a short period demonstrates our commitment to building genuine and lasting relationships with our partners. As we can also provide the development finance, this saves our customer’s time and duplicating costs whilst giving the Developer reassurance funding when they need it”.
We continue to seek new opportunities to deploy capital and give an indicative response within 48 hours – please give us a call on 020 7319 4253.
Earlier this month the Government published a wide ranging white paper (Fixing our broken housing market, February 2017) in an attempt to address the ‘broken’ housing market and its growing lack of supply. The paper praises existing schemes to help people get on the housing ladder, however admits that construction of new homes is still far behind the necessary target, recently increased to 275,000.
The principal focus of the paper is to bring sites to development more quickly. The Government wants to encourage Local Planning Authorities (LPAs) to make more use of compulsory purchase powers on stalled developments, and to consider the likelihood of a development completing when assessing planning applications. LPAs may also be able to reduce the time limit to implement a planning permission from three years to two, and, if a major developer is involved, assess their track record of completing schemes promptly.
Other proposals include encouraging LPAs to increase housing density where viable, reducing the affordable housing requirement on new developments from 20% to 10%, and automatically approving sustainable schemes when LPAs are not meeting their new homes targets.
These are largely welcome measures, but the white paper has been widely denounced for not going far enough. For instance, critics have argued that local governments should be better incentivised by increasing how much they benefit from increased council tax revenue.
However the lack of development land persists. One solution to this is to build on the green belt, but the white paper states that it must be used as a last resort. This protected land covers 12.7% of England; more than the UK’s parks, allotments, golf courses, gardens and concrete combined. By one estimate there is enough green belt in Greater London to build 1.6m houses at average density; enough to cover London’s requirements for the next 30 years. Even releasing small parts of this, much of which is not the green rolling hills depicted by the NIMBYs, could make a significant difference.
Pressure for new homes will continue, and is not purely down to a lack of building. The UK population has grown by 11% in the past 20 years- twice the EU average- and people are marrying later and divorcing more readily meaning that one in ten of us now live alone. Many argue that a more favourable option would be brownfield sites, but while preferable to green belt, brownfield would provide less than half of the requirement up to 2030 for London alone. The gap between what is being built and what needs to be is widening, and experts agree that while not the entire solution, more development land must be released. Perhaps it’s time to loosen the belt?
Ingenious Real Estate is delighted to announce £12m of completed deals to finish 2016 on a high; a £6m transaction for an 18 unit mixed use development in Walthamstow and a £6m Bridging Loan for a developable site in Guildford.
We pride ourselves on our ability to deliver fast and high quality funding to experienced counterparties. To find out more about our development and bridging finance Click here
The aftermath of the EU Referendum sent UK Real Estate markets on an extended holiday this summer; however as we approach the end of year, a sense of normality seems to be returning, supported by the UK’s long term & structural shortage of supply issues and with developers set to benefit from further economic stimulus, an increasingly relaxed planning regime and our government’s target for one million new homes by 2020.
Although the full impact remains to be seen, in the short term, there are obvious opportunities in the market and Ingenious Real Estate is here and happy to help investors and developers. Our new Bridging Finance product is designed to help our clients move quickly to secure a site, similarly through our stretch senior product a developer can unlock a scheme that institutional lenders may not be prepared look at. I’m excited to add that the scope of our development finance product has recently been increased to include commercial property too.
Since the return from the summer lull, we are seeing a steady flow of enquiries from new and existing borrowers who recognise that we will all just have to get used to living in uncertain times and the world has not ended. In response we continue to seek out and be strongly supportive of opportunities where we can see track record and liquidity in markets. Our recent £7.5m loan to a scheme in Gerrard’s Cross is an excellent example of the type of transaction we are very keen to support.
Ingenious Real Estate is very much open for business, we have recently expanded both the team and our product range and will continue to do so. Despite uncertainty the next few months will see us winning mandates from new and existing clients drawing on our experience, contacts and expanded product range. If you have any opportunities you would like to discuss with us or would like to know more about any aspect of what we do feel free to get in touch. We can normally provide an indicative response in 48 hours.
Ingenious Real Estate is delighted to announce the closing of a £7.5m residential development facility to assist an experienced developer with the construction of 18 flats on a brown field site in Gerrards Cross, South Bucks.
Gerrards Cross is a small and affluent town, popular with professionals and families within easy reach of London Marylebone.
We have recently expanded our product range and are seeking new opportunities to deploy capital, with an in principal answer in 48 hrs, please give us a call on 020 7319 4253
Ingenious Real Estate is pleased to announce that we can now offer both Commercial Development Loans and Bridging Finance, in addition to our highly popular and successful Residential Development product.
Our updated product range can be found here and we are actively seeking opportunities across all of these asset classes. We would be delighted to discuss your deal on 0207 319 4253.
We are pleased to announce the recruitment of Howard Sefton as an Investment Director at Ingenious Real Estate. Howard brings a wealth of experience and expertise to the team and will support our ambitions to materially expand our loan book and market share.
Howard joins from Deutsche Bank, where he was working in the European Real Estate Credit Team. Prior to that Howard worked with RBS for 9 years as a specialist within various Real Estate finance roles.
Tom Brown, Head of Real Estate Finance said “We are delighted that Howard is joining at a time where we are increasing our product range, volumes and support to the market. His experience across all sectors will be of great benefit to our customers and professional partners”
Howard said “I am delighted to join Ingenious, who are an independent and creative Lender, who can find solutions for customers at a time where Real Estate Finance products are in high demand across the market”
Our new and updated product range can be found here and we are actively seeking opportunities across all of these asset classes. We would be delighted to discuss your deal on 020 7319 4253.
