Banbury: OakNorth lends £9m to Hayfield Homes

OakNorth bank has completed a £9 million loan to Hayfield Homes – a new property development company established by former directors of the Banner Homes' Midlands team.

The capital will be used for the acquisition and development of two new residential sites, including one at Banbury. The site to the west of Garner’s House, which will be developed into 43 new two-five bedroom apartments, ranging from 667 – 1,952 sq ft with a total GDV of over £13m.

Planning permission was secured from Cherwell City Council last month.

The site is located within a 40-minute drive from the University of Oxford with good road links providing access to Oxfordshire, Warwickshire and London. There are also fast train services that run every 30 minutes from London Marylebone to Banbury, taking less than one hour with one stop between.

Hayfield Homes’ co-founder Mark Booth commented: “These are our first projects since founding Hayfield in 2016, so it’s very exciting to have obtained planning permission and secured the capital needed to support the developments.”

Commenting on the Oxfordshire development, Ben Barbanel, head of debt finance at OakNorth, said: “With the average property in Banbury costing almost £300,000, and Oxfordshire’s population having increased by 50% over the last 30 years, the county is in desperate need of new homes.

“Hayfield’s experienced management team have the expertise and ambition to take both projects forward bringing some much-needed new homes to the regions and generating strong returns for their investors.”