• Amount lent hits £325m
• Number of investors grows by 31% in first half of 2017
• New hires, Brexit and a buoyant property market drive growth

The amount lent to property developers through the Lendy platform has increased by 116% in just a year, from £150m in June 2016 to £325m in July, reveals Lendy, Europe’s leading peer to peer secured lending platform, and title sponsor of Lendy Cowes Week, in its half year report.

Lendy says that just as in late 2016, one of the key drivers behind the strong performance in the first half of the year was Brexit. This is because as traditional lenders pulled back lending to property developers in the run up to and after the triggering of Article 50 Lendy had access to better quality loans with lower loan to value ratios.

Some of the major loans in 2017 have included:

• £4.8m in loans for the purchase of a former quarry and cement works in the South Downs National Park
• £7m for the development of an eco-friendly leisure village in North Yorkshire
• £3.4m in loans for the refinancing of a castle and estate in North Wales

Lendy explains that the strong returns from investing through Lendy helped increase the user base over the last six months- growing by 31% since January, from 12,600 users to 16,500.

Investors have earned over £26.5m in interest from investments on the Lendy platform, since it was established in 2012, helping to fund a variety of development finance and bridging loans for property projects across the UK. The amount earned has risen this year £15.7m at the calendar year end of 2016.

Liam Brooke, Co-Founder at Lendy comments: “2016 was a landmark year for Lendy-but it’s already looking like we’ll surpass that in 2017.”

“We’ve experienced growth in every area of our business, from the loan portfolio itself to the number of users on the platform.”

“It’s a very exciting time for Lendy, as we look to expand further. This has included growing the expertise within our team, introducing new initiatives and improving existing services for our users and borrowers.”

Recent developments in 2017 that Lendy have introduced so far include:

• Rebranding- bringing the Saving Stream platform into the wider Lendy brand
• Implementing an upgraded default policy
• Initiating a new communications strategy
• Becoming the new title sponsor of Cowes Week
• Improving due diligence processes
• Expanding the Lendy team

Liam Brooke continues: “We’re proud of the fact that we are leading the way in improving the practices of the P2P sector, as it moves into the mainstream.”

“During the next six months of the year, we’ll be continuing to look at ways we can develop so that our investors and borrowers get the best service possible.”