2016 will see an increasing demand for specialist brokers with expertise in bridging finance, says Brian Rubins, managing director of Alternative Bridging Corporation.
“Experienced brokers understand what bridging finance lenders are seeking, how to propose the loan to them and to assist in the closing process,” he said. “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.
As credit eases he said it will first be available to lenders with a proven track record to on-lend to end borrowers.
And he added: “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 £1.5m with loans between £250,000 and £10m covering commercial and residential property as well as development projects.
