Affordable housing developer Pocket Living has announced that it has secured a £6.6 million debt facility with Pluto Finance, a leading provider of finance for property developers and investors. Lexi Finance, a specialist brokerage, introduced the two parties.
This represents the first deal with Pluto Finance, which is a 12-month facility secured against its Harbard Close asset in Barking. This will accelerate the deployment of the funds to support the delivery of Pocket’s future schemes.
The new homes at Pocket’s 78-home Harbard Close development are available exclusively to first-time buyers who either live or work in London and earn under the Mayor of London’s income threshold for affordable housing. The apartments are available from £192,000 - a minimum of a 20% discount to the local market, and purchasers own 100% of their property.
Paul Rickard, Chief Financial Officer at Pocket Living, comments: “This new funding partnership with Pluto Finance will allow us to further accelerate the delivery of the homes we build specifically for first-time buyers in London, who otherwise might be priced out of their local market.
“This commitment is a sign of confidence in Pocket as we look to build our 1,000th home this year and supports our ambitions for growth across London and beyond as part of our financial strategy.”
Greg Dunne, Lending Director at Pluto Finance, added: “We are very impressed with Pocket Living’s innovative model to deliver much needed affordable housing. With the Harbard Close development Pocket have once again demonstrated that it is possible to create good value flats without compromising on design or quality.”
Sam Le Pard of Lexi Finance added: “LEXI are fully supportive of Pocket’s ethos to build affordable homes for city makers, so it was a pleasure working with them on the Harbard transaction. Given Pocket’s product is entirely unique, I was impressed the Pluto team acted quickly to understand the funding requirement and provided market leading terms which they delivered within weeks of credit approval.”