Assetline Capital launches new Alt Doc Construction product

The Alt Doc Construction offering provides funding for company and corporate trust borrowers for the ground-up construction of houses, duplexes, town houses, and for structural renovations.

The new product has been launched to provide more opportunities for borrowers who require construction loans between $1 million and $5 million with a 70 per cent loan-to-value ratio (LVR), for a period of up to 18 months.

It added that the product aims to deliver an alternative and reliable funding opportunity for borrowers wanting to do small developments, with no/limited presales or servicing required.

“Assetline Capital recognised a gap in the market and worked with our broker network to develop an alt doc construction funding product between $1 million to $5 million,” Royden D’Vaz, Assetline’s head of sales and distribution, said.

He said that, unlike larger construction solutions, the Alt Doc Construction product has a “simple and straightforward” five-stage drawdown payment process, providing brokers and their clients with “a clear, efficient, and cost-effective strategy for the build”.

“We’ve kept the process deliberately simple to make it easy for both brokers and borrowers to access,” he said.

“From initial deposit to structure and finishes, the borrower has access to Assetline’s experienced construction project monitoring team to provide regular updates and certificates of compliance to ensure that the project is running on budget and schedule.”

Mr D’Vaz suggested that the Alt Doc Construction offering was a good segue into the construction space for brokers who may not have extensive experience in it and noted that the appetite for construction lending within the broking space was growing.

“I would encourage brokers who are unfamiliar with construction lending to look at the opportunities it may bring to their business,” he said.

“Having access to a non-bank lender that has extensive construction experience like Assetline Capital, can often be the difference between writing the loan or losing it.”

The product launch came as construction costs continue to grow.

The latest Cordell Construction Cost Index (CCCI) recorded a growth rate of 0.8 per cent in the cost to build a typical new dwelling over the three months to December.

According to CoreLogic, this marked a reversal in the easing trend observed over the previous four quarters, when the quarterly CCCI went from 4.7 per cent in 3Q22 to 0.5 per cent in 3Q23, while the annual growth rate for the 2023 calendar year was 2.9 per cent.

[Related: Assetline Capital appoints WA/SA BDM]