LendInvest Borrowers Add 1,200 Properties to UK Housing Stock in 2015

• Lender doubles annual total from 660 in 2014

• Constitutes 1% of total privately built homes in UK market

• Plugs funding gap for small-scale developers and landlords

London, 30 November 2015 – LendInvest, the world’s leading online marketplace for property investing and lending, has supplied the finance for 1,222 new properties in the UK housing market since the start of 2015. This is almost double the 2014 total of 663 units.

As an alternative (or non-bank) lender, LendInvest is plugging the funding gap left by high street banks that have either not returned to the small-scale bridging and development finance markets since 2008, or have done so with a significantly reduced appetite to lend.

Despite its younger funding base, LendInvest is also competing with the UK’s major housebuilders on their ability to provide sufficient numbers of new properties to the market every year.

Supplying loans for up to 36 months within days of application, LendInvest is creating a platform for thousands of small-scale professional housebuilders to tap into growing buyer confidence, access flexible finance, and take the lead in ending the national housing stock crisis.

In the past year LendInvest has lent over £250 million to borrowers that have created new housing supply. The typical LendInvest developer borrows from £500,000 to £5 million and creates 1 to 15 units. He will be an experienced property professional whose developments are his primary source of income. The majority of LendInvest-backed properties are two or three bed houses, sold for £100,000 upwards.

Christian Faes, Co-Founder & CEO of LendInvest, commented: “The massive shortage of new housing is pushing up house prices across the country. The crisis we are encountering is born out of simple supply vs demand economics, the result of which is that owning a house is out of reach of much of today’s younger generation. Creating new housing goes directly towards addressing this issue, and LendInvest is proud to be part of the solution to the housing market in the UK.

“After only 30 months in business, LendInvest will supply essential financial backing for around 1% of all privately developed homes in the UK this year.

“In a market where there are a dozen house hunters for every property and major housebuilders don’t intend necessarily to increase the number of units they built year on year, the country urgently  needs housing stock from alternative sources. Every housing development is underpinned by access to finance. Without the funds, builders cannot build. Where the cost of capital restricts the banks, alternative lenders must fill the void.”

LendInvest is most active in London and the South East on account of the team’s own experience and the concentration of borrowers in this region. The company has also backed borrowers in densely-populated towns throughout England including Nottingham, Birmingham and Ipswich.

The company expects the total valuation of properties funded to date to exceed £1 billion by early 2016 and expects to fund more than 1,500 new properties in 2016.

LendInvest is now the fourth largest P2P lender in the UK and the largest P2P platform for property globally. The company recently recorded its second annual profit of £3.1 million after only two years’ trading, and is the only P2P platform to have been rated by an independent regulated credit agency.

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Note to Editors

Video case studies of LendInvest developers on site can be viewed here.  Links to embed-ready videos are available upon request.

Contact

Carmen Murray, PR Manager – [email protected] / 020 3451 9624 / 07713 110 624

About LendInvest

LendInvest is the leading online marketplace for short term property lending and investing. The company was spun out of Montello Bridging Finance, the established bridging finance provider, in summer 2013.

LendInvest aims to bring the speed, efficiency and transparency of peer-to-peer lending to the mortgage market for the first time. In the last two years, LendInvest has originated close to £430 million ($640 million) of loans to professional landlords and developers for terms lasting one month to three years, making it one of the most active short-to-medium term mortgage lenders in the UK.

LendInvest is authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority. In June 2015, the company completed a £22 million Series A investment and in July 2015, it became the first peer-to-peer platform to be rated by a regulated European credit rating agency.

All loans are secured by a registered first charge against property in the UK and the company has consistently provided returns to investors between 6-9% per annum. The company has recorded no capital losses on its loan book.

For further information, please visit www.lendinvest.com and follow the company at @lendinvest.