Assetz Capital plans to lend £1 billion to homebuilders in 2022 before ramping it up 50 per cent in 2023 to £1.5 billion, the company said this week. The announcement was made by parent company Assetz.
The move is designed to stimulate demand amongst SME builders, whose numbers sit at 2,500, down nearly 80 per cent from its 1980s-era peak of 12,000. Included in the plans is support and long-term financing for different forms of care and supported living residences, along with more funding for commercial mortgages for trading businesses in the United Kingdom.
Over the past 23 Assetz said it has helped fund in the area of £2.5 billion worth of new homes, roughly equal to 16,000. They have also helped an estimated 1,110 SMEs around the United Kingdom secure alternative financing for their projects.
In conjunction with the growing focus on environmentally conscious building, Assetz committed to ensuring at least 95 per cent of new homes it funds by the end of 2022 will be at least EPC B-rated.
“Since launching the Assetz group of companies over 20 years ago, our purpose has been consistent – to provide investors who understand investment risk with an innovative platform which offers healthy returns backed by property security, while putting their capital to work to tackle big social challenges and support undersupplied areas of the market,” Assetz CEO Stuart Law said. “Through our development finance, commercial mortgages and bridging finance, we have pioneered fractional investment and social impact investing in real estate to meet the needs of modern investors who increasingly want to diversify risk, drive potential returns, avoid the headache of direct asset management and make a positive impact on the world around them.”
“At the same time, we have harnessed this appetite to make a meaningful contribution to some of the monumental challenges we are facing in the UK, from decarbonizing the built environment and helping people save for the future in a world of low-interest rates, to supporting SME developers facing difficult market conditions and increasing the supply of much needed to be assisted living accommodation.”
Law then highlighted the company’s efforts to encourage low-carbon housing and to facilitate much-needed housing for people needing the care sector.
“We have always believed that financial success and making a positive social impact are closely linked, a view we share with an increasing majority of investors who understand that using their capital for the benefit of wider society, as an extra return beyond headline interest rates, is the best way to generate sustainable returns long term,” Law concluded. “In this context we are laser-focused on growing the Group this year to provide even more attractive opportunities for investors, support the growth of UK trading businesses and job creation, and provide increasing numbers of energy efficient homes to those that need them most.”
An Impact Report was published by Asssetz at the beginning of the year.