Specialist lender Kensington Mortgages has raised £400m of funding through the wholesale financial markets.
The deal, which was announced to the market last week (June 17), was one of the first residential mortgage-backed securitisations (RMBS) to be sold to investors since the onset of the coronavirus crisis, according to the lender.
RMBS consist of bundles of mortgage loans, which are sold on as bonds to investors. The securities were purchased by global institutional investors.
Kensington said it will use the funds to support complex and underserved borrowers get on the property ladder.
Alex Maddox, capital markets director at Kensington Mortgages, said: “The global financial markets are a hugely important source of funds for the UK housing market.
"While everyone assumes that the flow of money supporting British housing is all about the big banks, that’s not been true for many years.
"About 20 per cent of the cash underpinning UK house purchases is coming from pension funds and debt investors around the world.
“At the start of the Covid-19 pandemic, the Bank of England was quick to ensure that funding was made available to banks and building societies so they could keep lending – which was welcome. With wholesale markets reopening, non-bank lenders such as ourselves can play a more active role in the market again, and help more people towards a house purchase.”
Kensington Mortgages is a specialist lender that offers mortgages to those who find it difficult to borrow from high street lenders.
chloe.cheung@ft.com
