Lloyds enters PRS lending market

Lloyds Bank Commercial Banking has written its first loan to a stand-alone private rented sector residential project, with a financing of a scheme in Birmingham.

The UK clearer has provided a three-year, £17.8 million development facility to real estate investment company Aprirose to help forward fund the construction and purchase of a 22-storey build-to-rent scheme in central Birmingham.

Left Bank, which is being developed by Regal Property Group, will deliver more than 200 luxury apartments for rent on the city’s Broad Street.

Although this is Lloyds’ first loan to a standalone PRS project it has exposure to the sector through financings of mixed-use schemes with an element of PRS including Quintain’s Wembley Park and Canary Wharf’s Wood Wharf.

Left Bank will be Birmingham’s tallest residential building when it completes in 2019. A second 31-storey tower on the site, which will include a further 200 PRS-units, was granted planning permission in March.

“Lloyds Bank has supported many of our major investments and projects over the years and so we are pleased to secure their partnership once again for what is one of our most significant developments yet,” said Gary Jones, chief operating officer at Aprirose.

“New housing is critical for Birmingham as it absorbs the thousands of new jobs being created by big moves to the city by HSBC and HMRC,” added Selina Dicker, director at Lloyds.