As the director of Perry Finance gears up for multiple challenges ahead, his main focus is on supporting clients who are facing hardship
Rising two places from last year and increasing his loan value by 15%, Cameron Perry says he has been very fortunate to have great support around him. Over the past 12 months he has invested time and resources into structuring his business and building his team.
Alongside Perry Finance, which handles residential and commercial mortgages, Perry launched a new brand called Melbourne Finance and Equity Group for private lending and development funding, which he says helped him clarify his offering in the market.
Over the past year, the commercial lending market has seen a lot of private capital as well as pricing competition between the banks, Perry says. But credit has remained conservative, and there’s been an increase in regulation, “probably as a result of the banking royal commission”.
Now there are new challenges to face.
Seventy per cent of Perry’s loans over the past 12 months were for development funding, but he says this is a really difficult space at the moment, with banks reluctant to lend to developers. While private lenders are usually a good alternative, Perry notes that much of this money has exited the market for development deals as investors become more nervous about the effects of the COVID-19 lockdowns.
He remains positive though. “There are always opportunities, and I think there will be plenty of demand for landholding facilities over the next six months as projects are stalled and there still is money around for good projects,” he says.
The remaining 30% of Perry’s settled loans were for commercial real estate, which he says had a strong 12 months, but the pandemic has brought things to somewhat of a standstill due to uncertainty over the viability of commercial tenancies.
The current environment presents many challenges for brokers, with fewer active lenders in the market, the banks preoccupied with helping their existing clients, and the threat of increased turnaround times. Perry also faces his own challenge in managing his staff who are working remotely.
To prepare his business for the coming months, he says he has consolidated the lenders on his panel that are still open for business and are formulating products for the likely scenarios ahead, such as existing loans rolling over and projects being delayed.
“We are also focused on servicing our existing client base and making sure any of our clients that are facing hardship are well looked after,” he says.
“Our team has been working remotely for over a month now, and we were already well prepared for this, so we haven’t dropped at all in our capability to service customers, but there are definitely challenges ahead with managing the current environment.”
Total value of loans settled: $91,030,406
Number of commercial loans settled: 44
Average commercial loan size: $2,068,872
Years as a commercial broker: 15
Aggregator: Connective
