Octopus

Octopus to fund 51-home west London development



Octopus Property has agreed to provide FRT Developments with a £10.7m development loan to deliver 51 homes in Isleworth, west London.


Planning consent has been secured to convert a former office building into 42 one-, two- and three-bedroom apartments (pictured above), with an average sale price of £340,000, along with nine affordable units.

The 27-month loan has been secured at 66% loan to gross development value and will support delivery of the scheme, which is due to complete in H2 2019.

FRT was able to roll from a £3.27m commercial bridging loan – provided by Octopus Property’s commercial team in January for the acquisition of the site – on to the £10.7m development facility. 

This eliminated the duplication of reporting, underwriting and arrangement fees to save the borrower time and money.

“We are delighted to have secured lending from Octopus Property, whose practical and flexible approach has enabled us to enhance the planning permission, increasing the size of the scheme from 28 to 51 residential units,” said Richard Rawlings at FRT Developments. 

“We look forward to working with Octopus Property through the development phase and delivering affordable starter homes in H2 2019, with deposits as low as £15,000, via London Help to Buy.”

Gavin Eustace, head of residential development at Octopus Property, said the deal was a great example of how different parts of the business could work together to provide a borrower with bespoke financing for different stages of the real estate lifecycle.

“With favourable macro conditions – including low interest rates, supportive government initiatives such as Help to Buy and a significant shortage of good quality, affordably priced homes in the South East – this is exactly the type of liquid scheme that we expect to be financing more and more through the rest of 2018. 

“Our development team has delivered a period of record growth in the last 12 months, and while more traditional forms of financing remain unavailable, we are well placed to build on this success.” 



Leave a comment