December 2019
By D’mitri Zaprzala, Head of Residential at Octopus Real Estate
2019, what a year it has been! It will be remembered by some in the UK as a rollercoaster ride but at Octopus Real Estate we will remember it as a record year of breaking barriers, expansion and much celebration.
Octopus Real Estate is an established non-bank lender, and we are the UK’s largest specialist real estate lender and investor. We hold the top spot as we are a forward-looking business and operate with a flexible approach creating a best in class service. In May we took the decision to merge two of our businesses under CEO Benjamin Davis to create Octopus Real Estate: Octopus Property, a leading non-bank lender to UK property investors and developers, and Octopus Healthcare, which invests in and develops UK care homes and retirement communities. The decision has enabled us to capitalise our combined expertise to support our customer base.
In October we completed £127 million of property lending! In the same month the commercial team, led by Head of Commercial Property Ludo Mackenzie, almost doubled its lending record. This lending volume highlights that there is still appetite in the real estate market to transact.
This year we also opened our first regional office, in Manchester. The office now processes deals end-to-end, from initial enquiry, through to credit and underwriting. A senior team moved from the London office, including Suparn Sapatnekar, one of our experienced Credit Managers, and were joined by new colleagues with experience in the Northern region. Chris Timms, Head of Sales for the North, is busy working with the team to firmly establishing our roots in the North.
2019 also paved the way for my promotion to Head of Residential. Residential lending is an integral part of our business and the newly created role acknowledges our commitment to this sector. We are known for our exceptional customer service, and my new role will ensure that residential borrowers will continue to receive the best service in the industry. Currently, the residential lending business provides residential bridging loans, bridge to let loans, refurbishment loans and buy-to-let mortgages. I have spent the last quarter focusing on how we interact with our borrowers and we will have some exciting initiatives launching in the new year. Watch this space!
Alongside my promotion, Dan Murray was promoted to the role of Head of Sales. Dan will now take on responsibility for running the team of Business Development Managers, supporting borrowers in the residential, commercial and development lending sectors across the UK. I will work alongside Dan to continue to improve our customer service – always listening to clients’ needs, so get in touch if you have any suggestions for us.
Over the last decade Octopus Real Estate has lent over £4.5 billion, across over 3,600 loans. We are committed to our borrowers and introducers and will continue to act quickly and be flexible in response to market influences. We will work to keep the market moving.