After starting the day’s conference with presentations from the team, debates on the current commercial property market were then fielded by Aldermore’s Q&A panel.
This comprised of Charles Haresnape, Managing Director of Mortgages and Commercial Lending at Aldermore, Gareth Claxton, Head of Commercial Lending at Aldermore, Simon Knowles, Head of Property Development at Aldermore, Kevin Jones Chief Operating Officer of Omega and Peter Sudworth from Vail Williams LLP.
One of the leading questions aimed at Charles, kicking off the Q&A, regarded how Aldermore as a new bridging lender, planned to take market share and whether this would be angled towards LTV’s or service.
Charles responded that service is key in the bridging market, as well as stating they are keeping rates “as competitive as we can”, adding that the rates are “currently under review”.
Charles responded that the lender had deliberately taken a slow entrance into the market, where he stated his reasons as: “We want to pick our way through that market very carefully so we will be choosing the types of deals that we want.” He continued: “it’s quite deliberately not our sole source of business – it is a very important additional tranche of business for us…we see it as something that will grow organically, but very carefully and relatively slow actually.”
He then went on to say that the lender had no desire to be the number one or number two lender in that market.
Charles believes they stand out in the market however, as they are “one of the very few, if only, fully licenced bank that does bridging lending.”
Earlier on in the conference, the panel discussed issues within the commercial property market, including whether foreign investors are tired of the UK market. Peter Sudworth stated that some decisions from foreign investors can be brash and poor, as well explaining that the UK has a “finite supply” with a growing population and a lack of land to accommodate. Kevin Jones stated that there are probably three or five exhibitions a week in Asia for foreign investors to buy in the UK, giving his opinion that “people do look at it as a safe haven”.
Gareth Claxton joined the discussion, responding that he “can’t see it racing ahead any further.”
Simon Knowles, however, highlighted an example of how foreign investors are still interested, stating that nine apartments Aldermore recently funded have been bought by various members of the Indian cricket team as an example, adding that “across the board, the foreign market… [is] still quite strong.”
Take a look here to view presentations that were held at the conference, showcasing the lender’s latest products and criteria:
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