"We’ve built a product that answers the needs of developers, and we are very excited about this new institutional funding line that’ll increase our dry power to continue supporting developers"
- Yann Murciano - Blend
Specialist development finance lender, Blend has announced that it has secured a new £50 million+ institutional funding line to offer bridging to property developers.
The news comes following a record quarter of lending for Blend. In Q4 2023, the lender funded a variety of property development schemes sitting at both ends of the scale. From high-end schemes such as the conversion of a Grade II listed property into 3 residential units in Saffron Walden, to more affordable schemes such as the development of a site into 21 residential units in Bexhill on Sea and the development of 14 apartments in Devon.
This new institutional funding line is added to Blend’s existing family office-backed and institutional funding. The company had previously announced that it had secured £120 million in committed capital from a consortium of large family offices to significantly boost its lending capability and further support mid-size property developers in the UK.
Yann Murciano, (pictured) CEO at Blend said: “At Blend, we have the appetite to support quality developers in all market conditions. We appreciate many developers have faced a challenging market environment over the past 18 months.
"Consequently, sales have been slow and exits have taken longer than initially expected and planned. Many developers we speak to have had their development loan facilities expire and are under increased pressure from their lenders who are experiencing lender fatigue.
"We are keen to support those developers by stepping in to help them carry their projects to a point where they can achieve their sales targets instead of having to sell at a discount or accept any offer just to exit.
"We’ve built a reputation for being a through-the-cycle lender, a lender who understands the development process and the challenges that come with it. So, we’ve built a product that answers the needs of developers, and we are very excited about this new institutional funding line that’ll increase our dry power to continue supporting developers.”
