Lendy, one of Europe’s leading peer to peer secured property lending platforms, has broken the £400m barrier in lending to the UK property market, as more property developers seek out alternative finance options.

Lendy’s latest milestone comes as some banks pare back their lending to the UK market.

Barclays recently announced that it would be tightening some of its lending criteria to the UK market, and other major lenders could follow.

As well as overall lending to SMEs, lending by banks to smaller property developers has been cut in recent years. As a result, Lendy says that more and more of these developers are seeking alternative ways to finance their projects and get spades in the ground.

Lendy, who reached £300m in lending only in April last year, has funded hundreds of bridging and commercial property development loans since its launch in 2012. These include residential developments, commercial property, and conversions.

The £400m has been invested by over 21,500 investors who have earned more than £40m in interest so far.

One of the keys to Lendy’s success to date has been the level of due diligence it carries out – for example, its property valuations are always carried out by RICS registered property valuers.

Property developers are turning to alternative forms of finance such as P2P thanks to:

• Quick turnarounds: Lendy can move from an initial offer to drawdown of the loan in a matter of days, in sharp contrast to the months taken by banks’ credit committees
• Availability: Lendy’s large and growing user base allows it to fund loans of any size extremely quickly, with loans often oversubscribed by up to five times
• Expertise: Lendy’s experience bridging and development loans and the underlying security means that they are often able to offer loans secured against properties that the banks would be unable to value confidently

Lendy also continues to see strong growth in its investor base, who are attracted to the platform through a combination of:

• Security: All Lendy loans are secured against UK property – many of the other large P2P lenders write loans to small businesses with much lower levels of security
• Due diligence: Lendy’s four-step due diligence process, undertaken by its in-house team, and its panels of major law firms and valuers, is often done to a higher quality than at major banks
• Low LTVs: Lendy lends at a maximum LTV of 70%, adding further to the security for platform users
• Returns: Lendy’s loans return up to 12% per annum to investors

Liam Brooke, pictured, CEO of Lendy, comments:

“For some time, we have been stepping in where big banks have neglected property developers. With banks set to limit their property lending even further – we are ready to help fill the funding gap.”

“To pass the £400m barrier in a little over a year after reaching £300m is testament to the relationship we have with developers and the quality of the loans we provide.”

“A combination of quick turnarounds for developers, coupled with good returns and excellent due diligence on properties for our investors, is helping Lendy grow at a healthy rate.”