Masthaven, the UK bridging loans and development finance bank, has published the results of its latest study, conducted last month, with 140 people within the specialist lending industry asked for their views.
The research showed that 71% of brokers are noticing awareness of bridging finance growing across the market. Of those surveyed, 51% noted higher demand for bridging finance. Much of this growing interest is focused on specialised lending, with 35% of brokers seeing a rise in cases that would have gone through a high-street lender previously.
Chain breaks and mortgage delays were the primary factors behind this increasing demand for bridging finance, according to 41% of respondents. Other driving reasons were cited as a boom in DIY and refurbishments (34%), buying at auction (28%), raising capital (19%) and re-bridging (11%).
Richard Deacon, sales director at Masthaven, said: “The pandemic has proved uniquely stressful and disruptive for the UK housing market, even while property prices and transaction levels have climbed to new highs.
“Bridging finance has always been a useful tool, but in the current market, it has really come into its own, growing in popularity as both brokers and borrowers look for flexible short-term finance solutions.
“Increasingly, these solutions have come from the specialist sector, which has worked hard to innovate and provide customers with the right tools to navigate this busy period.
“The factors pushing borrowers towards bridging may have been boosted by the pandemic, but they’re not going away any time soon.
“Bridging finance is no longer just an emergency option for borrowers, it has become truly mainstream.
“As awareness of the power and utility of bridging continues to grow, it will be increasingly important that lenders work hard to make their products competitive and accessible.”
Original article featured here…
Last month, Masthaven become a signatory of the Women in Finance Charter. Signatories pledge to implement four key industry actions, which include setting targets for gender diversity in senior management and annually publishing the progress made in working towards these targets.