At London Credit, we want to stress the importance of brokers maintaining a dialogue with clients in this challenging economic environment once a loan has been drawn down.
This uncertainty is yet to translate to the property market in any meaningful way. Rightmove says the average asking price of property coming to market hit its sixth consecutive record of £369,968 in June and has revised its full-year 2022 house price forecast up from 5% growth to 7%.
The vast majority of bridging lenders continue to display a healthy appetite for new business and pricing is still competitive, despite the rising interest rate environment we are currently faced with. At London Credit, we haven’t seen a drop-off in applications and there has been no drop-off in quality either.
As we continue to mentally readjust to life after the worst of the pandemic, we find the property development market at an interesting place in time. As far as interest in bridging goes, things are recovering well. At London Credit for example, we are receiving a constant stream of enquiries from brokers.
Capital cities are usually – but not always (think Canberra) – the economic epicentre and cultural lifeblood of a country. For the UK, London is so much more than that. It is a genuine ‘world city’ and in surveys its inhabitants often say they feel more affinity to residents of New York than Leeds or Birmingham, for example.
Speak to anyone in the specialist market at the moment, and you’ll get a similar story. The desire from investors to purchase property, whether with the intention of doing it up and selling it on or retaining it for the long term, is as strong as ever.
There is a real feeling of business getting back to normal at the moment across the bridging industry. It’s not just because of the excellent levels of activity we are still seeing, even after that first Stamp Duty holiday has passed, but also because of the return to face-to-face industry events.
