73% of development finance brokers expect to grow their businesses in 2015, according to latest research carried out by United Trust Bank.
The survey found that the majority of brokers operating in the development finance sector have a bright outlook for the coming year, with 62% predicting that their volumes of development finance business will increase.
The research also found that brokers were still finding the High Street banks averse to development finance deals with half of them having their most recent proposals turned down by High Street lenders.
Development finance brokers’ 2014 business volumes:
| Total value of deals placed | £500k to £1m | £1m to £2m | £2m to £5m | £5m to £10m | £10m to £20m | Over £20m |
| % of brokers | 22% | 16% | 27% | 13% | 13% | 9% |
Development finance brokers’ predictions for 2015:
- 62% – Likely to increase volumes of development finance business
- 33% – Likely to see business volumes remain about the same
- 4% – Likely to see business volumes fall during 2015
Noel Meredith (pictured), executive director of United Trust Bank, said: “2014 looks to have been another strong year for most development finance brokers. These findings reflect United Trust Bank’s achievement in increasing its’ development finance lending every year for the last five. Between 2009 and 2014 we have provided developers with hundreds of millions of pounds of funding with loan sizes from around half a million pounds to over ten million pounds.
“It’s also encouraging to see that despite recent cooling at the top end of the London property market, concerns or a Eurozone recession and the inevitable uncertainty provided by a general election, most brokers are optimistic about their prospects for 2015.
“One of the biggest challenges facing the next government will be tackling the fundamental housing shortage and SME developers can, and will, play a significant role in providing some of the many thousands of new homes we need to build in this country. Development finance brokers help builders to source the most appropriate funding for their projects and we look forward to working very closely with our broker partners as we continue to develop our own business throughout 2015.”
