Manager Director of Alternative Bridging Brian Rubins claims the new year will see an increasing demand for specialist brokers with expertise in bridging finance.
Rubins commented:
“Experienced brokers understand what bridging finance lenders are seeking, how to propose the loan to them and to assist in the closing process. For the brokers who have this expertise or are willing to enhance their knowledge of bridging the future looks bright.”
Rubins also predicted that there will be new lenders in 2016 in this market but that only those with hard-learned experience and who understand the importance of due diligence will survive. He said:
“Brokers which organise groups of investors with surplus cash and who can put together a few million and believe that bridging finance is simple will find it more difficult to be a lender than they anticipated.”
He noted that as credit eases, it will first be available to lenders with a proven track record to on-lend to end borrowers.
“These established lenders, with liquidity and strong marketing teams, provide their introducers with predictable underwriting, speed of response and certainty of closing and as a result will grow significantly in the year ahead.”
Similarly the larger of the short-term lenders will continue to widen their offering and so provide a comprehensive service to brokers. Alternative Bridging predicts its average loan will increase from £900,000 to £1.5 million with loans between £250,000 and £10 million covering commercial and residential property as well as development projects.