The South Australian Business Chamber member, Credit Union SA is moving into residential property development lending to help more South Australians get into their own homes.
In a first for the customer-owned banking organisation, a dedicated residential development team has been created to provide streamlined access to capital for small to medium housing projects.
Credit Union SA’s new service will help encourage more house and land stock into the local market where first homebuyers and young families currently face a housing shortage.
Credit Union SA CEO Todd Roberts said that by building strong relationships with established developers, more construction can proceed with confidence.
“We know that home ownership is a distant dream for many young people in South Australia and with public debate around how the state will cater for population growth, we believe we can help,” said Mr Roberts.
“We have identified that developers in the small to medium project bracket often get disillusioned when attempting to access funding in the market. What they want is certainty and consistency when securing finance and we believe we can meet this need.
“What we offer is a dedicated, personalised service where they’ll deal with one member of our team through the whole process and someone who is right here in Adelaide.”
Highly experienced property finance professional Micheal Fenton heads up the new team. Mr Fenton was most recently Head of Property SA for the Commonwealth Bank of Australia.
“This is about working hand-in-hand with local developers to provide the support they need to create the housing projects our city desperately needs,” said Mr Fenton.
“We will take the time to understand each developer’s specific requirements and work with them every step of the way. Our service will be tailored and nimble, enabling streamlined access to capital.”
Mr Fenton said the housing developments will consist of smaller sized land subdivisions, detached housing as well as smaller townhouse projects, rather than higher density blocks of apartments.
“The amenity of these developments is very important to us. Our focus is on assisting our clients in creating spaces that provide for a high quality of life for the eventual occupants, be it a young family purchasing their first home, or downsizers whose needs have changed over time,” he said.
Mr Roberts said interest is already strong with millions of dollars in residential property development opportunities on the table. He’s aiming to grow this new offering quickly and sensibly in order to meet demand.
“Credit Union SA is proud to be partnering with established developers to help get more families into their homes and create jobs in the building industry as we fulfil our vision to help South Australians thrive,” said Mr Roberts.
