Its AVM technology will be provided by Hometrack and will be available for selected first and second charge mortgages taken across all brands: London Mortgage Company, London Personal Loans, Preferred, Southern Pacific Mortgage Limited and Southern Pacific Personal Loans.
AVMs will be used by all the brands to estimate the current market value of a property based upon various analytical tools and data sets, e.g. comparable sales prices, home characteristics, and historical property price appreciation. AVMs will be accepted across all adverse levels subject to eligibility criteria.
Simon Hinshelwood, chief executive officer, Lehman Brothers’ Mortgage Capital businesses, said: "In certain circumstances we will now allow our packagers the option of instructing an AVM through Hometrack rather than commissioning a valuation report. We are delighted to extend our options for intermediaries for AVM usage. This is a significant step for us on the way to full point of sale offer functionality for those of our intermediary partners whose customers will benefit from speed.
"We understand speed is a benefit to some but not all customers - our approach is all about choice. Provided we are happy with the value of our security within certain risk parameters, we believe the people best placed to determine whether to use full surveys or AVMs are the customers and their advisers through their chosen packager."
David Catt, commercial director at Hometrack, said: “We have been working with London Personal Loans for some time and we are pleased to be extending this service, working with other lenders in the Lehman Brothers’ Mortgage Capital business. We are confident that Hometrack will compliment the existing personalised service being offered to intermediaries.”
