West One Loans’ short-term lending branches have achieved a milestone with record completions exceeding £1bn in 2023, demonstrating robust growth in their bridging and development finance sectors.
Despite market challenges, the company reported a year-on-year lending increase of over 10%, with the bridging team’s completions up by 8% and the development finance team by a notable 44%.
The growth in assets under management (AUM) further reflects the company’s strong performance, with a 4% rise in development finance and a 5% increase in bridging. These results contributed to parent company Enra Specialist Finance’s record year, with over £2bn in originations and a significant 20% boost in AUM to £2.1bn.
Tom Cantor, head of bridging at West One, commented on the sector’s resilience: “We’re very happy with how 2023 went, and we have proven that we can meet the needs of borrowers in all market conditions, no matter how challenging… We’re glad to say that we have carried that momentum into the New Year and therefore we expect another strong year in 2024.”
Guy Murray, head of development finance, discussed the company’s progress and outlook: “These are challenging times for developers, but we have developed a product that provides them with certainty of finance from the very first to the last step in the process… We have a strong appetite to lend, and we have the product and the flexibility of criteria to lend to all developers, large or small. So, the message to brokers and their clients is: come talk to us.”
