Brexit opening new doors for bridging lenders

The lender says it has seen many changes in the bridging industry since the Referendum, such as price sale variations between the South East and northern regions "proving to be understandably erratic".

Mint believes that lenders are now focusing heavily on advising clients that valuations are "constant moving targets, and will be for the foreseeable future".

Early in 2016, Mint Bridging expanded to the Greater London area and was conducting 60% of its business in the South as a result. However since Brexit, it reports that loan enquiries and subsequent development conversions have dropped to 43% in this region based on property sale freezes while in the Midlands, Yorkshire and the North West loans have accelerated primarily in development.

It has also noted stronger diversity in geographical spreads and property types: from lower HMO enquiries to a substantial increase in permitted developments, commercial properties and flats.
 
Furthermore, Mint says that with Brexit "clamping down further on financial institution red tape", loan enquiries are being rejected and property developers are increasingly turning to bridging lenders for development cash.

Mint also sees further potential for growth in the expat market due to unstable house prices, adding that the UK could well develop homes "to flip, potentially to overseas prospectives".

Paul Wertheim, Operations Director at Mint Bridging, commented: “We’ve received many calls from foreign property owners and expats since Brexit. Additionally, the diverse geographical range of new UK based clients has offered us great scaling opportunities, so we’re still on target for reaching monthly quotas.”