"As more and more money goes to owner-occupiers, boots will struggle to get on the ground working to hit the Government’s housing target."
The data shows that the number of new £1 million-plus mortgages written by banks last year increased to 4,844, up from 3,896 in 2015. The total value of these mortgages rose 18% over the same period to £8.95 billion from £7.59 billion.
However the lender has warned that the UK’s housing crisis could worsen if banks continue to favour owner-occupiers over property developers.
Its research found that outstanding bank lending to developers fell 7% last year, to £14.8 billion in 2016 from £16 billion in 2015.
Liam Brooke, co-founder of Lendy, commented: “As more and more money goes to owner-occupiers, boots will struggle to get on the ground working to hit the Government’s housing target.
“Housing targets will continue to be missed unless banks allocate more money to developers who build multiple homes at rapid rates. As the balance of lending shifts to the owner occupiers’ favour, it is smaller developers that are losing out.
“It is these small and medium sized developers especially that have found it hard to get funding from banks since the financial crisis. Peer to peer platforms such as ourselves are contributing more and more in getting new developments off the ground.”
