The team at UK’s Blend Network, a specialist development finance lender, notes that they’ve recently been quite vocal about why development finance lenders “need to show more commitment towards Net Zero and sustainable house building.”
Blend Network has explained why and how specialist lenders like them are able to “play a key role in the transition to a greener economy.”
According to Blend Network, the next decade will be “crucial for protecting the planet for future generations.” Financial services, especially specialist non-bank lenders, have “a critical role to play by helping deploy the financing needed to power the changes required,” the firm noted.
They added that the sector as a whole “needs to up its game to ensure it is not left behind.” Lenders have “a particularly acute responsibility to support sustainability by ensuring that they are able to magnify and amplify developer’s success and provide appropriate financial packages,” the firm noted.
They also mentioned that incorporating ESG factors can “lead to increased profitability through higher property values, attracting more/better tenants and improved returns on investment.” The firm believes that the time is “ripe for lenders to chip in and support the road to net zero.”
The company also mentioned that it’s “no longer enough to talk the talk, we must walk the walk.”
Roxana Mohammadian-Molina, the CSO at Blend Network, told Crowdfund Insider in an interview that specialist development finance lenders “can and must be part of the solution if we are serious about tackling the housing crisis.”
She added that the Covid-19 outbreak was “the first big test for the specialist lending industry and [she’s] delighted to be able to say that it’s passed the test with flying colors.”
She also noted (in December 2021):
“When Covid-19 hit at the start of 2020, it quickly started to become apparent the pandemic would test the industry and provide it with a unique opportunity to prove its worth. Fast forward 21 months since the start of the lockdown, we can now say that this was indeed a challenging test for the industry, one that allowed some specialist lenders to emerge stronger while many other platforms had to scale back their operations or shut down.”