Noel Meredith, Director of United Trust Bank comments on the latest UK house building data from the ONS.
Noel Meredith, Director of United Trust Bank said:
“It’s disappointing to see that new house building starts are down 11% in Q1 2011 compared to Q4 2011 and falling well short of expectations. Housing and construction is hugely important to the UK economy and what appears to be one of the key factors holding back activity is a decline in the availability of development finance.
“The findings of our own survey revealed that 25% of brokers found development finance harder to source in Q4 2011 with 50% seeing no improvement in availability. It’s clear there’s still little appetite from mainstream lenders to increase the availability of development finance with them either restricting their development finance books or withdrawing from the sector altogether.
“However, lenders such as United Trust Bank are keen to provide finance for well planned developments in the right housing sectors and locations. Other lenders have come and gone but we have been consistently active in development finance and we’re always happy to talk to developers and brokers seeking residential development or short term finance.”