LaSalle Earmarks Big Loan for North London Condominiums
26 July 2016 - 5:29PM
Dow Jones News
By Art Patnaude
LaSalle Investment Management said Tuesday it will lend GBP110
million ($144.5 million) for a residential development in north
London, one of the largest property-financing deals in the U.K.
since the country voted to leave the European Union.
A joint venture between U.K. home builder Telford Homes PLC and
the regeneration firm Business Design Centre Group will use the
loan to build 355 condominiums alongside commercial space. The
project in Finsbury Park, about five miles from Big Ben, is due to
finish in 2020.
"It's a big loan post Brexit," said Amy Anzar, head of debt and
special situations at LaSalle.
London's real-estate markets are expected to come under pressure
following the June 23 referendum. After years of booming demand,
commercial property values are expected to fall and house prices
could also cool, especially in London.
Concerns that property values could fall have made lenders more
cautious.
In the last few weeks, the terms of loans to this sector have
been "a bit more conservative to reflect the increased risk," said
David Lebus, director of debt advisory at property broker JLL.
Ms. Anzar declined to say the exact terms of the new loan, but
said LaSalle typically lends up to 60% of the gross development
value for senior loans.
"We're obviously putting in a healthy degree of caution in terms
of the outlook on the U.K. market," she said. "Having said that,
we're actively lending."
Lending to U.K. property companies had only just recovered from
the 2008 financial crisis. In 2015, the total amount of outstanding
debt on U.K. commercial property rose for the first time since
2008, according to a De Montfort University study.
Soured real-estate loans, from mortgages to lending to
developers, were at the root of that crisis.
Chicago-based LaSalle, which manages assets valued at around $59
billion, in the past 18 months has invested GBP750 million in 17
property loans.
Certain parts of the U.K. property debt market are more at risk
of falling values than others, Ms. Anzar said. Homes in the new
development, called City North, will sell for less than GBP1,000 a
square foot, a "price point that is affordable for domestic
purchasers," Ms. Anzar said.
"A higher-end price point we'd be much more cautious on at the
moment," she said.
Write to Art Patnaude at art.patnaude@wsj.com
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
July 26, 2016 03:14 ET (07:14 GMT)
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