This figure is up on the £1 billion achieved in 2003. These figures highlight the continued growth for the group within the sector.
“This achievement is particularly impressive against the 2004 backdrop of five interest rate rises and a general slowdown in residential property capital appreciation and resulting drop in demand for buy-to-let finance,” says Paul Rockett, director of The Business Mortgage Company (TBMC), one of the four UKCFG member firms.
It is now estimated that UKCFG transact at least one in every 20 buy-to-let mortgages in the UK, based upon member firms’ business volumes in comparison to the Council of Mortgage Lenders buy-to-let mortgage lending statistics for 2004.
The group has also increased their business volumes in other areas of finance including commercial property investment mortgages, commercial owner-occupier mortgages and property development finance.
UKCFG is made up of four specialist commercial mortgage brokerages: The Business Mortgage Company - TBMC (Cardiff), Mortgages for Business (Sevenoaks, Kent), Professional and Commercial (Southampton) and The Money Centre (Norwich). The group also operates a number of satellite offices around the UK.
The group works closely with buy-to-let lenders and supports them by providing marketing, processing and packaging facilities – elements that significantly impact lenders’ profitability. Lenders provide UKCFG with preferential buy-to-let mortgage products with market leading rates and terms that are only available through the group’s member firms.
