Mint Bridging has become the latest lender to join the Association of Short Term Lenders (ASTL).
Mint Bridging offers bridging finance for borrowers, developers and investors, with loans available up to £5m for property purchases, developments, auction purchase, business cash flow, investments and more.
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The latest sentiment survey from the Association of Short Term Lenders (ASTL) shows that bridging lenders are upbeat about the long term prospects for the UK economy despite the uncertain outlook and immediate challenges faced by the sector.
The research, which was conducted amongst members of the ASTL in the first half of July, found that more than 64% of bridging lenders are confident about the long-term prospects for the UK economy, compared to just 50% when the survey was run in June last year.
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OFFA has become the latest lender to join the Association of Short Term Lenders (ASTL).
OFFA is the first bridging finance provider in the UK to offer products that are designed in accordance with Islamic and ethical financing principles. It provides residential, commercial, refurbishment and planning bridging loans as well as development finance, and its management team has combined experience of more than 50 years of property finance experience.
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If something appears too good to be true, it probably is – and this adage is ringing true for some of the huge number of customers who chose to defer the payments on their mortgage as part of the payment holiday scheme that was announced by the government in March. It was never a payment holiday – merely a deferral – but there are other downsides for borrowers who have taken up the offer, and these are now rapidly becoming apparent.
According to a recent poll by Mortgage Solutions, nearly four in 10 (39%) brokers said that they couldn’t place a case as a result of their client having taken a mortgage payment holiday or having accessed a government support scheme. Read more
One of the lessons we have all learned from the COVID-19 pandemic is that the world is an unpredictable place in which nothing is certain. As the lockdown restrictions slowly start to be relaxed, nobody knows what shape the economic recovery might take. But we can anticipate future trends based on some of the many changes that have happened during the lockdown.
I spoke to some members of the ASTL Executive Committee to find out their thoughts on the impact of COVID-19 and some of the trends we might expect to see in the future. The key themes were the resilience of the sector, the importance of technology and the opportunities for residential development in areas that have traditionally been dominated by commercial space.
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In April, the international professional services firm, EY published its annual report into the UK bridging market. The research for the report was carried out earlier in the year, before the scale of the COVID-19 crisis was fully realised and, while this has dated some of the results, there are many elements that remain true in the current environment and are likely to continue to do so as we emerge from this pandemic.
One, particularly interesting section of the report, that I would like to focus on, looked at the key customer considerations in choosing a bridging lender. According to the research, 58% of respondents cited “speed of execution” as very important for a customer when choosing a bridging lender, which is consistent with the results of the previous year’s survey.
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Bridging loan books grew to £4.5billion in 2019, an increase of 19.7% compared to 2018.
This is according to figures compiled by auditors from data provided by members of the Association of Short-Term Lenders (ASTL), which confirmed that completions in Q4 2019 reached £1.068 billion – an increase of 13.7% on Q3, while average LTVs continued to remain below 60%.
However, applications in the final quarter of 2019 fell by 10.7% on the record-breaking previous quarter.
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TFG Capital has become the latest lender to join the Association of Short Term Lenders (ASTL).
TFG Capital was set up in August 2014 to provide funding to companies and high net worth individuals, has advanced more than £90m in loans since its inception and continues to support businesses across the UK daily.
As part of its membership of the ASTL, TFG Capital has signed up to the association’s Code of Conduct, which includes treating customers fairly and requires that all fees are proportionate and openly disclosed.
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The Association of Short Term Lenders (ASTL) has announced the appointment of two new Directors to its board, following a rigorous process of election by its member firms.
Alan Margolis, Director of Bridging at Masthaven Bank, and Scott Marshall, Managing Director of Roma Finance have both been voted onto the Executive Committee of the ASTL with immediate effect. The elected Directors will serve as Executive Committee members of the ASTL, acting as a guiding influence to provide direction and decision-making for the Association.
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Bridging Vat has become the latest lender to join the Association of Short Term Lenders (ASTL).
Bridging Vat is a specialist lender advancing short terms loans for the VAT due on commercial property purchases, and provides clients with an in-depth level of expertise in both the funding and recovery of VAT.
It becomes the latest lender to join the ASTL as part of its commitment to transparency, professionalism and treating customers fairly.
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