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Brexit may be to blame for fall in regulated bridging loans

Potential buyers taking stock of an impending Brexit may be behind regulated bridging loans falling in the third quarter to the lowest level since Q1 2015.

That’s according to Gareth Lewis, commercial director at MT Finance (mtf), as it was revealed the number of regulated loans conducted by Bridging Trends contributors fell for the second consecutive quarter. They dropped to 31.6 per cent of all lending in Q3 2018, compared to 36.8 per cent during Q2 2018. This is the lowest level since Q1 2015, when the number of regulated bridging loans transacted was at 31.5 per cent of all lending.

Lewis said: “The data continues to show that property investors are seeking attractive opportunities to acquire properties where they can add value, a trend that shows no sign of slowing down. Conversely the transaction flow in the regulated space has continued to show signs of slowing down. Is this a direct response to the everyday purchaser taking stock of Brexit and holding fire before looking to commit to the purchase of a new residence?”

Bridging loan volume transacted by contributors hit £213.35 million in Q3 2018, an increase of £15.4 million on the previous quarter. This is the highest figure to date and comes as another new contributor joins Bridging Trends — specialist finance packager, Clever Lending.

First legal charge lending increased to 84.4 per cent of all loans during Q3 2018, up from 80.9 per cent in the second quarter. Meanwhile, second charge loans decreased to 15.6 per cent compared to 19.1 per cent during Q2 2018.

For the second consecutive quarter, refurbishment purposes were the most popular reason for obtaining a bridging loan, as borrowers continued to add value to existing and newly purchased properties.

Mortgage delays were the second most popular reason for obtaining a bridging loan, accounting for 19 per cent of all lending, down from 20 per cent in the previous quarter.  Whilst loans for auction purchases and business purposes increased in the third quarter by 3 per cent and 1 per cent respectively.

The average monthly interest rate dropped to 0.78 per cent in Q3, from 0.83 per cent in Q2 2018 — the lowest rate recorded since Q4 2016. This activity translated into lower LTVs, with average LTV levels in Q3 decreasing by 1.5 per cent to 55.4 per cent.

The average completion time on a bridging loan application jumped to 46 days during the third quarter from 43 during the second quarter, as service and resource levels were impacted by annual leave. The average term of a bridging loan in the second quarter remained at 11 months.

Sonny Gosai, head of specialist lending at Clever Lending, says the business is privileged to be on board with Bridging Trends, which “provides much needed analysis of the market”. He added: “The bridging industry is booming at present and forms a large part of our key distribution and remains one of our main focuses.

“Whilst the data suggests that there has been a drop in regulated bridging activity, we have recently set up a team solely to provide regulated bridging advice as we have seen a growth in this area particularly for enquiries. It will be interesting to see the next quarter’s Bridging Trends results.”

Meanwhile, Luke Egan, head of specialist property finance at Pure Commercial Finance, says the market is becoming more competitive. He said: “Regarding the drop in regulated bridging transactions, we operate slightly different to a lot of specialist brokers as we take a large amount of direct business, so we have more regulated bridge enquiries as a lot of clients are home movers.

“However, the market is becoming more competitive which would explain the decline to an extent as there is a finite amount of business being passed around a larger number of people.

“Interest rates seem to be only going one way. I believe one of the main regulated bridging lenders will drop their rates again soon in order to stand out in a crowded marketplace. Completion times increasing again is a worry, speed seems to a forgotten pre-requisite of bridging and more of a USP these days.”

Source: Bridging Directory

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Could further rate rises affect the bridging market?

After almost a decade with static, low rate environment, November 2017 saw the first rate rise in 11 years. There was much talk at the time that it could be followed by several more. Then nothing until last month, where a 0.25% rise saw the bank rate hit 0.75%, the highest it has been since 2009.

The Bank of England has indicated that it will be followed with at least one more rise before tFhe end of the year, maybe two. So, we are finally seeing a shift to a rate rise environment, a bit of shock after the static situation we have all been familiar with for so long.

November’s rise – the first many borrowers will have ever seen – coupled with this latest rise and the fact there is still uncertainty over Brexit, means we are in uncharted territory.

The one thing we do know, is that rates are rising, but how far and by how much remains unknown. Another unknown is how these recent and potential rate rises will affect the bridging market.

Generally speaking, while rate rises can affect the short-term lending market, it is less rate sensitive than the mainstream lending market. This is down to two main reasons. Firstly, due to their short-term nature, the rates of a bridging loan will generally not rise during the loan term, and secondly, because bridging lenders are funded differently from mainstream lenders.

Some bridging lenders are reliant on external funding, while others like Hope Capital, are principal lenders, which means they are privately funded, and therefore not directly affected by BoE rate rises.

In fact, as bridging becomes more accepted as a viable alternative to high street lenders, there is more competition in the market which has actually forced rates down. However, rates do vary quite widely between lenders because cases are taken on an individual basis, so rates are agreed depending on a number of factors including the speed at which the borrower needs to loan in place, how flexible the lender needs to be and the risk involved.

The main effect of rate rises on the bridging market, therefore, is exit routes. Borrowers who are looking to refinance as their exit route will be affected by higher rates on the longer-term finance deals that they go onto after the bridging loan. Therefore, bridging lenders and brokers need to be aware that if rates rise, it may affect the borrowers’ exit strategy and therefore their ability to repay the loan, which may need to be taken into account when assessing the risk.

Even if selling the property is the customer’s exit strategy, this still may be affected by rising rates because higher rates tend to slow property price growth.

However, assuming rates don’t rise significantly, I think the impact of the recent rises on the bridging industry to be fairly minimal. At Hope Capital, thanks to our position as a principal lender, we will continue to look at every case on an individual basis, whether there is a rate rise or not.

Source: Mortgage Introducer

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Refurbishment most popular use for bridging in Q2

Funding refurbishments was the most popular reason for obtaining bridging finance in Q2 2018, the latest Bridging Trends data has found.

Just over a third (34%) of all lending in the second quarter of 2018 was for refurbishment purposes, up from 18% during the first quarter of 2018, as borrowers sought to maximise the value of their existing assets.

This is the second time refurbishments were the most popular purpose since Bridging Trends launched in April 2015  – the previous time was during the same quarter last year.

Gareth Lewis, commercial director at mtf, said: “The new additions to Bridging Trends has given us a better spread of data reflecting a truer market commentary, this has been seen with the decrease in the regulated figure.

“Unsurprising to see that refurbishment is the most popular purpose, especially given more property investors are looking to add value to property to help improve yield and capital value.”

Investors are evidently opting for fast and flexible bridging loans to make improvements to properties and bolster yields against a backdrop of legislation that has made it tougher to buy new properties. At the same time mainstream banks continue to reign in lending.

Consequently, bridging loans for mortgage delays and auction purchases were down on the previous quarter, falling by 4% and 13%, respectively.

Bridging loan volume transacted by contributors hit £197.94m in Q2 2018, an increase of £43.9m on the previous quarter. This is the highest figure to date and comes as three new contributors joined Bridging Trends: Complete FS, Finance 4 Business and Pure Commercial Finance.

Regulated bridging loans fell to the lowest level since 2015, coming in at 36.8% of lending in Q2, from 43.7% in Q1. However, second charge lending increased to 19.1% of all loans during Q2, up from 16.3%.

Chris Whitney, head of specialist lending at Enness, said: “[I’m] slightly surprised to see regulated loans down so much as we still see a lot of transactions where borrowers are taking advantage of these refurbishment loans on their own homes and then refinancing them out with a term loan once works are completed and value added.

“Similarly, second charge lending still looking strong as borrowers want to utilise equity in their property assets without disturbing the first charge debt which is often very good value so when blended with a second charge rate is still attractive overall on a short-term basis.”

Average LTV levels increased by 7.8% in the second quarter to 56.9%, whilst the average monthly interest rate remained at 0.83% for the third consecutive quarter.

Turnaround times were quicker in the second quarter, as the average completion time on a bridging loan application decreased by five days in Q2 2018, to 43 days. The average term of a bridging loan in the second quarter remained at 11 months.

Paul McGonigle, chief executive of Positive Lending, said: “Regulated bridging transactions for us were high in Q2, so it’s a surprise to see such a significant decrease.

“What was evident though and as the data suggests, is that refurbishment was definitely the key reason for unregulated borrowing during the period.

“Now is the time for a proper bridge-to-let product to support these refurb deals. Lenders should look to fine tune their offering- with one underwriter, not two, so that property investors and developers can access the finance they need, with speed and with minimum fuss.”

Dave Fathers, director, sales at Finance4Business, said: “As the competition remains strong amongst the bridging lenders, with new entrants coming through and others fighting for a larger marker share, we are seeing a steady decrease in the average monthly interest rates when looking at each quarter-on-quarter which is great news for our clients.

“The specialist market is very well established and with borrowing interest costs reducing, property traders are turning to this type of finance more than ever before.

“We are half way through Q3 now and we are set to break all records again, we are not seeing any let up at the moment, but we are experiencing slower-than-average completion timeframes and we are simply putting this down to professional 3rd party capacities being stretched along with clients being better prepared and needing the ‘rapid bridging completion’ less and less.”

Source: Mortgage Introducer

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Bridging rates won’t rise after base rate increase

The Bank of England’s decision to raise the base rate from 0.5 to 0.75% is not expected to affect short-term lenders, Benson Hersch, chief executive of the ASTL, predicted.

The Monetary Policy Committee voted unanimously to increase the base rate.

Benson said: “Today’s announcement that interest rates are rising will as expected have a major impact on longer-term lenders, as they may feel compelled to raise rates.

“This will affect exit routes for short term loans, but unless there is an expectation of further increases in the medium term, I don’t expect rate rises to affect short term lenders.”

Alan Dring, consultant at Hope Capital, partially agreed, saying he didn’t expect an immediate reaction either.

He said: “The rate rise is not totally unexpected of course. It’s a reflection the Bank of England sees the economy being in a better state, which is encouraging.

“It will eventually filter through one way or another. There won’t be an immediate reaction. At the moment it’s just business as usual and the sector will adjust as it feels it needs to.

“Most of the funding is pretty stable at the moment. There’s no chance of a radical increase, just maybe a couple of the rates at the bottom end of the scale will be adjusted because they are maybe not as profitable.”

Jonathan Sealey, chief executive and founder of Hope Capital, also agreed and said that said that bridging lenders just need to be aware of any change in their cost of funds affecting their exit routes.

He said: “The 0.25% rise will have a minimal effect on specialist borrowers. Cost of funds will not have risen for most lenders, certainly not for private lenders, and so bridging and other specialist rates are likely to remain the same, affected more by competition than by any decision by the Bank of England.

“More institutionally funded lenders may notice a slight rise in their cost of funds but this is likely to take some time to trickle through to the borrower.

“The key thing that borrowers of short term loans will need to be aware of is that if may affect the affordability of their exit routes if their plan had been to move off their bridging rate onto a long term loan with a mainstream lender who now increases their rates.”

James Allen, head of alternative investment at Walker Crips, added: “For bridging lenders to be sensitive to the base rate, rates would need to be coming up to 5% or 5.5%, which is a long way away. I don’t think rates will rise to 5% for another 10 years.”

Jonathan Samuels, chief executive, Octane Capital, questioned the BoE’s decision.

He said: “While a quarter per cent increase won’t take home finances to breaking point, it will add to the pressure at a time when confidence is already low.

“The Bank of England’s hope is that this hike will be a shot across the bows to overly indebted consumers, and there is some logic in that. But the timing of this rate rise, coming in the shadow of outright politico-economic uncertainty, is less logical.

“Why rock the boat just as we approach the business end of Brexit, all the more so given that inflation is not significantly above target? Thankfully, many households have remortgaged onto fixed rates to protect themselves against rate rises in the medium term.”

Paresh Raja, chief executive of bridging lender Market Financial Solutions, warned how it will affect homeowners with a variable or tracker rate.

He said: “For those homeowners paying off variable or tracker mortgages, they will now be faced with an increase in their monthly payments, which could place considerable strain on households.

“What’s more, this rate rise will mean that banks will be more cautious when it comes to approving mortgage applications.

“The stringent lending measures that have been imposed since the onset of the financial crisis a decade ago have made it tough for people to access finance from high street lenders, and this latest rise could make it more difficult for people to successfully acquire a mortgage from a bank due to the increase in monthly payments they will now face.”

Source: Mortgage Introducer

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Using bridging for a development project is the most popular reason

Funding a development project is the most popular use for bridging finance, with one third of those taking it out for this reason in Q2, up 24% year-on-year, the latest result mtf Broker Sentiment Survey has found.

Property investors are increasingly turning to bridging finance to fund development projects and refurbishments, taking advantage of vast liquidity on offer to improve new or existing portfolio properties and maximise the value of their assets.

Refurbishment was the second most popular reason for getting a bridging loan at 27%, compared to 19% during the second quarter of 2017.

Gareth Lewis, commercial director at mtf, said: “With mainstream lenders implementing tougher affordability restrictions, it has been harder for investors to access funds and the feedback from our brokers suggests that more are turning to bridging finance as a result.

“In particular, investors are looking to add value to a property rather than purchase a property as a straight forward portfolio investment.

“This trend is evidently not just limited to light and decorative refurbishment, but also property conversion, extensions, reconfiguration and smaller scale ground up developments.

“We believe we will continue to see a substantial rise in the demand for development and refurbishment products throughout the rest of the year.”

Investors are opting for fast and flexible bridging loans to make improvements to properties and bolster yields against a backdrop of legislation that has made it tougher to buy new properties. At the same time mainstream banks continue to reign in lending.

Some 26% said buy-to-let lending restrictions was the biggest challenge facing UK finance brokers, while 24% said it was the government’s continued changes to buy-to-let legislation.

Due to these challenges, overall demand for bridging finance increased in Q2 with 38% of brokers noticing a rise in bridging loan volume, up from 30% in the first quarter of 2018.

The biggest demand for bridging loans in Q2 2018 came from the South East at 30%, followed by the Midlands at 19%.

Source: Mortgage Introducer

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Bridging development loans up 22% in Q1

In Q1 2018, there was a 22% increase in in bridging development loans since the previous quarter, with members of the ASTL lending £386.1m worth of development loans, of which £242.2m were categorised as bridging.

This further highlights the crucial role of the short-term lending market in supporting the property development sector in the UK.

Terry Pritchard, director at Charterhouse, said: “There’s a lot of development bridging finance at the moment and a lot of planning applications.

“We’re still a nation looking to build. I’ve seen lots of application for bridging, mostly for new build. There’s lots of business, however it’s not all good quality.”

Chris Dawe, sales director at brokerage LDNfinance, said: “This is certainly a trend that we have seen. This is mainly linked to the reduction in mainstream buy-to-let and standard property investments due to lender criteria and tax changes.

“This has prompted the clients looking to invest in property to move their focus towards alternative investment property propositions which may involve reconfiguration, refurbishment or renovation.”

Property development bridging loans are a method of obtaining short-term finance in order to either secure a property or refurbish with the intention of adding value.

These development loans exclude what is generally termed “light refurbishment”, such as the addition or renovation of bathrooms, kitchens and conservatories as these generally do not require planning permission or extensive structural changes.

Harry Hodell, senior originator at Fiduciam, said: “There is a evidenced shortage of housing throughout the UK, so increase in development bridging loans comes as no surprise to Fiduciam.

“The market demand for competitive short term funding options, remain high and although improving, funders providing competitive bridge development products are some way off meeting the demand out there.

“We expect this figure to continue growing as SME’s become more accustomed to using alternative financiers and aware of the wide range of bespoke lending available to them.”

Benson Hersch, chief executive of the ASTL, said: “The role of small and medium building firms are seen as crucial in helping solve the housing crisis but access to finance still remains their toughest barrier to overcome.

“Whilst SME building firms continue to be locked out of mainstream channels, they will increasingly rely on different sources of finance such as short-term funding solutions. These alternative forms of finance are providing a solution and allowing small developers to play their part in housing delivery.”

Source: Mortgage Introducer

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Nine in ten brokers plan to increase level of bridging business over next 12 months

Most brokers think they will increase the amount of bridging finance they do over the next 12 months, according to a broker survey by specialist bridging lender Hope Capital, with 97% of broker saying that they are more than happy to work with unregulated lenders.

Hope Capital’s survey revealed that for more than half of the brokers who answered the survey, bridging already makes up at least 20% of their business, with one in 16 saying more than 80% of their business is bridging.

And that level is set to increase, with nine in ten brokers saying they think the level of bridging business they do will rise over the next year.

The survey also revealed that the part of the process that causes the most delays in the completion of a bridging loan is the speed of the client’s solicitor – almost a third cite this as an issue.  This was followed by collating information from the client, which is seen as the main cause of delays for 36% of brokers. Getting approval from lenders is an issue for one in five, as is, slightly worryingly, the brokers’ own understanding of the bridging process with 20% saying they have a lack of understanding or knowledge of the bridging process.

In terms of issues that brokers want to see addressed, the survey revealed that 52% think flexibility on LTVs should be a priority, while almost half (48%) say they would like lenders to consider lowering interest rates and improve the speed of service. Four in ten said acceptance criteria needs to be addressed.

Jonathan Sealey, pictured, CEO of Hope Capital said:

“Like any area of lending, there are areas that brokers would like to see improved, and we are keen to address these by always offering the fastest turnaround times and ensuring we are always transparent and flexible.  The call for lower rates is likely to be a never ending one however. Rates, including our own, have dropped substantially in the past few months and bridging loans are up to 3% cheaper than they were a few years ago, but while it’s natural that brokers always want them to be lower still, bridging rates will never be the same as mainstream as every loan is underwritten manually.

 “The other area that most brokers brought up as an issue is LTVs and that is something that, as a principal lender, we are able to address. Hope, has its own funds and is therefore able to make a decision about each individual client based on their individual circumstances.

“For example, we recently had a case with a client we knew well and were prepared to offer an LTV of 87% because we were confident that the property would be worth considerably more once the refurbishment was completed.”

Sealey says that overall the survey paints a very encouraging picture for the bridging industry and for Hope Capital as a lender with 99% of respondents saying either that they will, or are likely to, recommend Hope Capital.

“For the vast majority of brokers, bridging already makes up 20% of their business, and 90% say they are keen to do more over the next 12 months, which shows how much more mainstream bridging has become.

“Brokers are now turning to bridging lenders for a wide variety of reasons, often because the High Street is not offering the solutions they need or they are hoping for a more tailored service. At Hope, we have seen the level of lending increase significantly over the past year and, like the survey suggests, expect to see it continue to increase into 2018.”

Source: Bridging Loan Directory

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62% of brokers expect to grow their business over the next 12 months

Some 62% of finance brokers have said that they expect their business to grow over the next 12 months, according to new research.

United Trust Bank’s most recent broker sentiment poll asked brokers in the bridging, development, structured and asset finance sectors how they expected their businesses to perform over the next year.

The majority of responses were broadly positive with nearly two-thirds of brokers expecting their business to grow.

The results from the broker sentiment poll were:

In a similar poll carried out by United Trust Bank in December 2017, 56% of brokers predicted that 2018 would be a good year for their businesses, while a further 35% expected it to be “steady”.

Harley Kagan, group managing director at United Trust Bank (pictured above), said that it was hard to believe that we were halfway through 2018 and less than a year from Brexit.

“It’s encouraging, therefore, to see that most brokers are expecting to grow their businesses over the next 12 months, despite continued uncertainty surrounding our future relationship with the EU and something of a change of mood in the residential property market.

“Like us, many brokers are seeing opportunities in the challenges.”

Harley continued by saying that UTB had enjoyed a very successful first six months of the year as it continued to grow in several respects, including lending volumes and headcount.

“We now have more BDMs and originators than ever, introducing a variety of UTB products and services to brokers and customers across England, Scotland and Wales.

“The investment we’ve made in expanding the mortgage and bridging sales teams last year – and more recently the development finance team – is paying dividends.

“Our structured finance division has also had a busy first half year providing fast, flexible and dependable funding solutions for more complex scenarios and we continue to invest in technology to help us maintain our award-winning service standards and increase our lending across the bank.

“To underline our commitment to supporting brokers looking to grow this year, we have invested more capital in UTB, which allows us to continue to provide stability, confidence and assurance to brokers that if they are looking to fund opportunities for their customers, our book is always open for good quality business.”

Source: Bridging and Commercial

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Two-thirds of brokers report bridging rise

65% of brokers saw an increase in bridging loan volume in the third quarter of 2017, a rise on 48% in the second quarter, according to the latest Broker Sentiment Survey from bridging lender, mtf.

The geographical spread of bridging loan demand also broadened in the third quarter and for the first time 9% of the 96 brokers surveyed cited an increase in demand in Scotland and Northern Ireland, respectively.

For the fourth consecutive quarter, the South East saw the biggest demand for bridging loans in the UK at 48%, although this represented a drop from 62% in Q2. The second highest area of demand was London, at 25%.

Also for the fourth consecutive quarter, funding development projects was the most popular reason for taking out a bridging loan at 30%, followed by business purposes at 17%.

However, some 69% of brokers said the bridging loan process took longer than it was 12 months ago. While 45% said it took under three weeks to complete a bridging loan, and 18% cited a mere one to two weeks, some 55% said it took in excess of three weeks.

34% suggested three to four weeks was the average length to complete a bridging loan, while 21% indicated that bridging loan cases generally took more than four weeks to complete.

Almost three-quarters of brokers surveyed blamed solicitors as the main reason for delay, followed by the valuer at 13%.

James Anderson, head of new business at mtf, said: “Bridging loans remain an important financial tool for borrowers and demand continues to grow.

“Speed has always been a vital element in bridging finance and it is important that solicitors understand what is required, so that bridging finance requests can be completed as quickly and accurately as possible.

“There are some excellent firms of solicitors to choose from and many bridging loan lenders, like mtf, use a panel of pre-approved firms to help speed up a bridging loan transaction for the applicant.

“At mtf, we take a fast, non-status based approach to lending going back to the traditional roots of bridging finance. Our approach is streamlined; no application forms, no upfront fees, offers in principal within 12 hours of enquiry and valuations within 48 hours.”

Source: Best Advice

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Bridging loan volume soars in Q1

Bridging lending reached £154.02m in Q1 2018, up almost a third compared to £118.79m for the same period last year, Bridging Trends data found.

This is the highest volume recorded since Bridging Trends launched in 2015, almost doubling £80.47m of lending during Q1 2015. Prior to Q1 2018, volume peaked at £150.07m during the second quarter of 2017.

Alan Dring, consultant at Hope Capital, said: “It’s a healthy trend that’s continuing, is good to hear and is encouraging for rest of the year. The first quarter was frustrated by bad weather but the confidence is still there and these figures are a good relfection of a confident, active sector.

“However service levels for bigger lenders are being jeopardised by appetites for more business at higher LTVs and lower rates, chasing the market and not necessarily quality and as a consequence these figures could be influenced by poor service levels.

“These figures don’t surprise me, they encourage me. Hopes’s figures in second quarter will be better than first which was our record.

“They’re gaining opportunity on the back of diminishing service levels of larger lenders who could be accused of getting greedy in a market steadily increasing. There’s every reason to be optimistic if you get your model right.

“The figures are also down to education with brokers becoming more knowledgable and aware of opportunities.”

The average term of a bridging loan was 11 months during the second quarter, down from 12 months in the previous quarter.

For the third consecutive quarter, mortgage delays were the most popular reason for obtaining a bridging loan, accounting for 24% of all lending.

For the first time, auction purchases were the second most popular reason for getting a bridging loan at 20% – up from 4% during the same quarter last year, as an increasing number of people benefitted from fast access to capital.

Refurbishment was the third most popular reason for obtaining a bridging loan during the first quarter at 18%.

A completion time of 48 days during Q1 2018 was lower than an average completion time of 50 days during Q1 2017.

The average term of a bridging loan was 11 months during the second quarter, down from 12 months in the previous quarter.

Average monthly interest rates remained at 0.83% for the second consecutive quarter and were 0.83% during the same quarter in 2017. Average LTV levels increased to 49.1% in Q1 2018, from 46.2% during the Q1 2017.

Regulated bridging loans increased for the first time since Q1 2017, with the number of regulated loans conducted by contributors increasing to 43.7% in Q1 2018, compared to 42.6% during Q4 2017.

First legal charge lending increased to 83.7% of all loans during Q1 2018, up from 80.3% in the fourth quarter. Meanwhile, second charge loans increased to 16.3% compared to 13.4% during Q1 2017.

Joshua Elash, director of bridging finance lender, mtf, said: “It is particularly interesting that pricing has remained stable, despite an increase in regulated lending. This suggests that the recent downward pressure on rates might be easing and in the unregulated space, going the opposite way.

“Also, particularly interesting is the increase in bridging loans for auction purchases, considering the otherwise quiet property market, where transactional volumes have been adversely impacted by recent changes to buy-to-let income tax treatment and exorbitant increases in stamp duty.”

Tomer Aboody, director of bridging finance lender mtf, said: “Bridging volume has peaked to its highest level as the product becomes an increasingly mainstream financial tool.

“This is good news for borrowers that are able to access fast and vast pools of capital to fulfil their short-term funding needs as well as a growing number of investors attracted to the space.”

Source: Mortgage Introducer