This article was originally posted by Australian FinTech on October 22, 2020

Wefund secures $64.5m funding for new South Melbourne residential development

This article was originally posted by Australian FinTech on October 22, 2020.

In one of the largest residential construction deals approved during the Covid-19 pandemic, leading Australian development finance platform, Wefund, have secured $64.5 million of funding for the construction of a 20-level development in Melbourne.

Wefund’s disruptive technology, which provides fast, transparent, and secure finance for Australian developers, means construction on the residential and commercial tower at 37-43 Park Street, South Melbourne, can get under way.

The striking, futuristic-looking building is designed by well-known architects, CHT. It’s located within the City fringe suburb of South Melbourne, less than two kilometres south of the Melbourne CBD and close to the new domain train station.

Marshall Condon, Wefund Co-Founder, says, “The Australian property development finance sector is bogged down with time-consuming loan application processes. In many cases, it also lacks transparency and integrity. This means borrowers often face hidden fees, exhaustive application processes, or offers being amended at the last minute.”

“We are incredibly pleased that our unique and innovative Australian-developed platform, together with our talented credit team, have delivered a great result for our client.”

Condon adds that, despite the impact of the COVID-19 coronavirus, Wefund was able to continue operating seamlessly through its entirely online lending platform. This meant they were able to continue to connect active lenders with developers, despite lenders tightening their lending criteria and pulling out of a number of property financing deals.

Wefund secured a senior facility up to a 60% LVR that had flexible pre-sale requirements and was more competitive than the client’s bank-structured option.

“Working with Wefund to secure this transaction has been a refreshing process. Their platform gave us all the information we needed in the first instance to provide an offer back to the client much quicker than traditional methods. To get a transaction of this size across the line you need to be working with experienced professionals and team at Wefund were certainly up to the task,” said Bill McWilliams, Investment Director, Maxcap.

Funding certainty is critical for developers. Wefund’s cutting edge, disruptive solution turns the traditional one-sided and lender-biased model on its head by gathering all the loan information in a single portal and presenting loan applications to lenders as opportunities in an easy-to-digest way.

This makes it easy for developers to review funding options and for prospective lenders to make an informed decision on the commercial, development, mezzanine or bridging finance that’s being applied for. It presents clear and transparent options that show borrowers their true funding costs upfront and gives funding certainty by providing access to over 70 accredited non-bank lenders.

The financing of the Park Street development demonstrates how Wefund’s game-changing funding platform was ideally positioned to benefit from the market swing to online technology as a result of COVID-19.

“However, it’s more than just a great online financing platform,” explains Condon, “it is also backed up by a great team. We believe we’ve combined the efficiency of technology with the experience of people perfectly.”

Wefund’s specialist team reviews and helps structure applications before they are presented to the most appropriate lenders on the portal. After reviewing all the information, lenders are then free to submit their terms to finance a deal.

To find out more about development financing options, or for an overview of how the Wefund platform works, contact the Wefund team.