Len Boyd joined Paragon Bank’s Development Finance team from Close Brothers earlier this year. We chat to the Senior Relationship Director about his career so far and his reasons for joining Paragon.

Visit Len’s LinkedIn  profile to connect with him.

You have enjoyed a long career in property finance, what attracted to you to the role at Paragon?

The Paragon brand is very well known and trusted throughout the property finance industry. Over the years I have known a lot of clients that have also been clients of Paragon and, without exception, all have spoken very highly of the knowledge, service and professionalism of the Paragon Development Finance team. I have also known a number of the team members for many years and I can honestly say that I would not have considered moving to any other lending institution. 

Are there any particular sectors or regions you will focus on?

My main focus will continue to be providing finance to small and medium-sized experienced property developers/housebuilders to assist with residential and mixed-use residential-led development projects. That said, at the moment, I also have a student development and a couple of Co-living schemes on my desk.

Historically, without any forward planning, my portfolio has tended to gravitate around the Home Counties and the South East. That said, my existing portfolio takes me from Derbyshire to Cornwall as the origination team are client led, so geographically I don’t have any particular target patch.           

How would you describe current market conditions for SME developers?

Where to start…..materials and labour costs have increased significantly over the last couple of years, but are hopefully now levelling off, if not coming down in some areas. Interest rates have risen from a historical low, but again are hopefully levelling off and will possibly even reduce slightly towards the end of the year. Sales values have plateaued and have possibly even reduced in some locations and the planning process is not getting any easier/quicker.       

On the flip side, Government set house-building targets are never achieved and there is still an underlying shortage of good quality housing throughout the UK.  As long as sufficient contingencies are built-in and all other fundamentals are in place, arguably now could be a good time to start a new development as some level of stability should have returned to the market by the time the units are being released onto the market for sale.

Where do you see the greatest opportunities going forward?

I think we make our own opportunities and at the top for me is continuing to do what we do best - that is outperforming our competition in terms of industry knowledge, client service and speed of response. As a region, I also like the West Midlands as in my opinion this area hasn’t seen as much house price over-inflation as, say, Greater Manchester. Finally, with the odd exception, the high street banks don’t have dedicated property development finance teams, which means that there are still great opportunities for specialist lenders such as Paragon to lend to experienced property developers and housebuilders.      

Can you tell us a bit about yourself outside of work?

I like to keep fit and am a keen runner - I have completed a few London marathons in the past but tend to run because I really enjoy it nowadays. I also enjoy skiing, watching rugby and visiting European cities with family and friends.

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