Adverse credit and bridge-to-term completed the top five searches for bridging.
Regulated bridging was the most searched criteria for the bridging sector on Knowledge Bank in August, its Criteria Activity Tracker has shown.
Adverse credit and bridge-to-term completed the top five searches for bridging.
Nicola Firth (pictured), chief executive of Knowledge Bank, said: “We are entering an unprecedented period of change in the country both politically and economically.
“The mortgage sector has never been more fluid and we can see from these results that product types rise and fall in popularity from month to month.
“As a result keeping up to date with products and their accompanying criteria has never been more challenging.
“It is worth repeating the startling fact that there were almost 30,000 changes to criteria in the first half of 2019.
“As Knowledge Bank knows from working with the FCA, the regulator is well aware of the pace of change in our sector.
“However, there is little doubt that in a market of such product volatility there remains the risk of a tsunami of accusations of inappropriate product recommendations in coming years.
“That is why it is so critical that brokers compile the strongest possible evidence now, during the advice process.”
The search for minimum loan amount also moved up to second most searched in the commercial category.
Semi-commercial properties were the most popular criteria in the commercial sector.
Maximum LTV was the most searched term for second charges, followed by self-employed and one years’ accounts.
For buy-to-let, lending to limited companies overtook first-time landlord as the most searched criteria.
Firth added: “In five years’ there will undoubtedly be sourcing evidence that a ‘cheaper’ product was available but not necessarily the understanding or evidence that the client did not meet the qualifying criteria.
“Solid compliance evidence of criteria searches is now a business-critical activity.
