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Real Estate

The new names in property lending: not the usual suspects

Debt funds and other alternative financiers have been taking UK market share from long-suffering banks

As banks withdraw from commercial debt, private equity firms are grabbing a larger slice of the action
As banks withdraw from commercial debt, private equity firms are grabbing a larger slice of the action Photo: Neil Webb/Ikon Images/Getty Images

If the global financial crisis happened suddenly, its impact has become apparent more gradually. But it is now clear that 10 years after Lehman Brothers collapsed, banks have cut back on commercial real estate lending — and others have stepped into the void.

In the aftermath of the crisis, regulatory overhauls such as the UK’s ‘slotting’ rules began forcing banks to hold more capital against their loans, including real estate. This prompted them to pull back on the riskiest loans, and although banks remain the largest source of the UK’s commercial real estate funding, private equity firms, fund houses and insurers have all grabbed hold of a bigger share of the near-£200bn pie.

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