Now brokers face a period of unexpected uncertainty, but within this there will be nuggets of opportunity for those willing and able to take a proactive approach.
Dak Lam is a buy to let specialist at Sirius Property Finance
It’s hard to believe that just a few weeks ago we were talking about the tremendous momentum the market had as we started 2020 and few people could have predicted the impact of a global pandemic and, perhaps more pertinently, the efforts to control it.
Now brokers face a period of unexpected uncertainty, but within this there will be nuggets of opportunity for those willing and able to take a proactive approach.
There will be a huge number of development projects across the country that are currently approaching completion ahead of the traditionally busy buying period in Spring.
For many of the developers completing their schemes, selling this Spring may not be an attractive prospect, or even a possibility, if the uncertainty continues and has a knock-on effect on the market.
So now is the time they should be thinking about refinancing their assets to buy themselves extra time to sell or let out the properties. And it is important that these developers do act now.
The first few weeks of the year were so busy that they put real upward pressure on prices and the longer market goes through a period of inactivity, prices are likely to stagnate or even drop.
The majority of term lenders will allow a valuation to stand for six months, so securing a valuation now could be much more beneficial for a developer than waiting until a few months down the line.
It’s important to strike now while the iron is hot, and this presents great opportunity for proactive brokers to contact their developer clients and discuss their refinancing requirements.
Some brokers may have reduced capacity during this period, of course, so if you are currently under-resourced or even if you would rather work with an expert in development exit finance, consider your options to refer the case or work with a specialist distributor.
At Sirius, and right across the Brightstar Group, we have introduced measures to ensure it is very much business as usual, with as many of our people as possible working from home during this period to continue to carry out their roles.
After a fantastic start to the year, this is an uncertain period, but for proactive brokers, this uncertainty creates real opportunity.
