Paragon Development Finance has committed £8.8 million to Oakwood Group for the construction of 51 homes in Broughton, on the northern outskirts of Preston, in a deal that covers both site acquisition at Garstang Road and the full build-out costs. Twenty of the units, some 39% of the scheme, will be delivered as affordable housing, reflecting the increasingly standard planning conditions now attached to mid-sized suburban developments across the North West. On the surface this is a modest, unremarkable transaction. Look closer, however, and it offers a useful window into how development finance is actually being deployed in 2024, and which lenders are willing to back the SME housebuilders that mainstream banks have largely abandoned.