Cambridge & Counties saw its property lending balances grow by £167 mln to £588 mln (€679 mln) in 2016, a rise of 41%.
The UK bank said that the average size of its real estate finance loans increased as it continued to concentrate on professional and corporate landlords in both the commercial and residential markets in the UK.
Cambridge & Counties Bank is jointly owned by Trinity Hall, a college of the University of Cambridge and Cambridgeshire Local Government Pension Fund. They each own 50% of the bank.
Commercial Director Simon Lindley (pictured) said the lender focuses on the professional and corporate property investment sector, and avoided the high-risk second mortgage, development and amateur buy-to-let markets. 'In terms of what we are seeing in the market, the redevelopment of office accommodation under Permitted Development Rights continues apace, and action taken by the government and the Bank of England saw transactions in the buy-to-let market tail off considerably towards the latter half of 2016.'
'Uncertainty following the Brexit vote saw a number of larger property deals stall, but take-up eventually happened, and the general UK property business continues to show a measure of resilience in the face of relatively unattractive returns from other asset classe,' he said.
