Landlord demand for buy-to-let (BLT) bridging products remains strong despite brokers’ increasingly being unsure of the market.
According to research commissioned by West One Loans, 81 per cent of brokers felt it was a good time to invest in the market, compared to 83 per cent in February, while 10 per cent were unsure of the market, compared to 5 per cent at the beginning of the year.
However, 73 per cent of those asked in February said they were doing more business than six months previously, which has now risen to 98 per cent.
West One Loans chairman Duncan Kreeger said: “Despite a slight cooling of broker sentiment towards buy-to-let as an investment for future, thanks to the current demand from landlords, buy-to-let bridging is flourishing.
“Back in February, 70% of brokers offering buy-let products said they were writing more buy-to-let business than they were six months before. That number’s now risen significantly. Bridging is still not being affected by increasingly problematic conditions in the wider residential market. In fact, it’s thriving off the back of them.”
61 per cent of brokers said that growth in the buy-to-let market is ‘moderate’ or ‘fast’, compared to just 40.2 per cent in February.
Kreeger added: “I am pleased to say that the growth in buy-to-let business seems to be steady, rather than explosive at the moment. We aren’t seeing a massive increase in the number of brokers saying buy-to-let is booming – this is a moderate, sustained rate of growth.
“The long-term macro-economic picture appears to back that up. Given the current housing shortage, buy-to-let should represent a sound investment for the future. But professional landlords are finding it difficult to get access to finance from high street lenders. Even when they can – it’s painfully slow. Over the last six months, they have woken up to the fact that bridging loans provide a rapid solution to their problem. And as property investors embrace bridging, brokers are seeing the benefits.”
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