Noel Meredith, director of United Trust Bank, said it was disappointing to see that housing and construction falling short of expectations.
He said: “Housing is hugely important to the UK economy and what appears to be one of the key factors holding back activity is a decline in the availability of development finance.”
A UTB survey revealed that 25% of brokers found development finance harder to source in Q4 2011 with 50% seeing no improvement in availability.
Meredith added: “It’s clear there’s still little appetite from mainstream lenders to increase the availability of development finance with them either restricting their development finance books or withdrawing from the sector altogether.
“However, lenders such as United Trust Bank are keen to provide finance for well planned developments in the right housing sectors and locations.
“Other lenders have come and gone but we have been consistently active in development finance and we’re always happy to talk to developers and brokers seeking residential development or short term finance.”
