Hybrid bridging-lender-cum-agent Nested wins £8m of new funding

As if agents needed more competition from digital start-ups, a company called Nested that offers to buy a client’s home if a buyer can’t be found has won a fresh £8 million injection of cash.

Launched 14 months ago, Nested promises vendors that it will sell their homes via its own listings on Rightmove and Zoopla within 90 days or provide them with an interest-free loan to buy their next property.

Nested is chasing the 40% of home movers in the UK who do not have a mortgage and therefore find it frustrating when they caught in lengthy buying chains.

Hefty fee

There are some catches to the deal. Nested guarantees to sell a vendor’s property, but only for 95-98% of the asking price in return for a hefty 2.5% sales fee. If the property is sold for more than the valuation range, it splits any ‘profit’ 70/30 in favour of the lender.

But if the property does not sell, Nested then takes out a first-charge mortgage on the property and advances the necessary cash to enable the vendor to move home. When the property sells, the ‘bridging’ mortgage is then cleared.

“There are lots of people in this situation and we think we can build a very big business which helps a lot of people,” founder and Chief Exeuctive of Nested Matt Robinson (pictured, left) told The Sunday Times.

But despite the ambitious claims, Robinson admitted that Nested is completing only five deals a month at the moment, although he says the company will evenutall reach 10,000. “Based on what we’ve seen so far, I believe we can,” he said.