Business

Assetz Capital approaches £100m lending milestone in Northern Ireland

Some of the new houses being build in Mid-Ulster, having benefited from Assetz Capital funding
Some of the new houses being build in Mid-Ulster, having benefited from Assetz Capital funding Some of the new houses being build in Mid-Ulster, having benefited from Assetz Capital funding

ASSETZ Capital, one of the UK’s most impactful business lenders, has funded £74.2 million worth of loans to businesses and property transactions in Northern Ireland since opening its Belfast office three years ago.

Since then, the lender has funded the completion of 433 homes across the region and is currently targeting a £100m milestone before the end of 2020.

Key transactions have included Devine Group, which received £7.2m from Assetz to fund the construction of 55 houses in Mid-Ulster. The company is currently constructing 25 units in the Gallion Glen area of Cookstown.

Assetz also provided £2.5m to fund a commercial development, the construction of a petrol filing station and retail parade anchored by M&S Simply Food at Belfast International Airport.

Assetz Capital provides commercial mortgages for owner occupied premises, residential and commercial development finance, bridging loans and buy-to-let funding.

It funds its property secured loans through a growing network of more than 38,000 retail and institutional investors, who have earned more than £109m of total gross interest on their investments to date.

Founded in 2012, the firm has now lent £1bn to SMEs and house-builders, and in the last year it has funded the construction of one in every 100 new homes built in the UK.

Andrew Fraser, relationship director at Assetz Capital, said: “There remains a backlog of available new private and social homes across Northern Ireland, with research showing a requirement of 9,000 homes to be constructed per annum in order to meet current demand.

“Land and Property Services figures of registrations for new homes built between 2009 and 2019 show an average of 5,887 per annum being constructed, meaning the deficit in new housing during this 10-year period currently appears to be approximately 31,000 homes.

“This demonstrates that there is a desperate need for finance solutions that can give house builders the resources they need to meet the demand, and we are committed to addressing this issue.”