'Marked increase' in bridging as first choice to secure property

According to Narinder Khattoare, with lengthy and increasing requirements for conventional commercial funding, more buyers are opting to secure their purchase via bridging finance before switching to longer term finance.

He said:

“We know that the increasing popularity of auctions and the growing number of properties bought at auction helped the regulated bridging sector achieve its continuing upsurge in popularity last year. Also from the evidence we are seeing, because conventional first charge lenders are still taking a particularly rigorous stance when underwriting and the time taken to offer can suffer, more buyers and their brokers are turning to bridging as their first port of call in order to make sure the sale goes through in the right timeframe.

"Increasing enquiry levels for bridging finance for purchase as well as other business purposes is certainly helping to power Alpha Bridging’s new business success. Bridging finance is proving to be extremely adaptable and resilient and acts as a perfect foil to the wider lending market.”