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Peer lending property platform launches

Joanna Faith
Written By:
Joanna Faith
Posted:
Updated:
07/02/2017

An online lending platform, which allows individuals to lend as little as £500 for property transactions, has launched.

Credit Peers aims to make deals that were previously only available to institutions and banks accessible to individuals. After registering, a lender can make loans immediately, while a borrower could have access to finance within weeks.

Research conducted by Credit Peers among 1,000 consumers found that 59% trust their bank less than they did a year ago and 44% of respondents are looking for a rate of return on their investment of between 5-10%.

It also found UK consumers are extremely open to property as an investment with 65% saying they would like lenders to invest their money into property or real estate, almost double the next most popular options – stocks and shares (33%) and commodities (33%).

Credit Peers only deals with professional real estate investors and developers as borrowers and reportedly subjects them to rigorous due diligence and underwriting. Borrowers are also required to invest a minimum of 15% of the property value using their own equity into each transaction.

The platform has been created by a team of five property financing experts with over 100 years combined experience in the sector within the top tier lending and investment banking community, including Credit Suisse and Goldman Sachs.

Torsten Hartmann, chief executive of Credit Peers, said: “The current economic environment of low interest rates, volatile stock markets and high house prices offers very little to the average consumer looking to make a better return on their money. Add to this the current distrust of traditional investment vehicles, and the situation is bleak.

“We are setting out to revolutionise and democratise property financing by focusing on quality, speed, control and transparency. In the context of the uncertainty created by Brexit and the US election, we are confident in both the property and alternative finance markets. We want to allow everyone to benefit from the ongoing growth within the sector by helping them to lend funds against tangible assets that they can see, touch and feel.”

Hartmann added: “Credit Peers deals with all types of property from multi-residential to office and retail, and accepts individual lenders, but we only deal with a special type of borrower. This is what sets us apart from the P2P lending market.”