The Specialist finance market has seen continued growth this year due to the fact that more individuals are not quite meeting the strict criteria of the high street banks for a variety of reasons.
Current research by the Intermediary Mortgage Lenders Association (MLA) have revealed that the Specialist Mortgage lenders gross annual lending had grown by 19% each year since 2009, which highlights the extent of the market and continued growth.
Specialist lenders in the market have the expertise to deal with the more complex situations and cater for the growing numbers that fall outside the mainstream lenders criteria. Many specialist lenders look at the whole situation of a case and deal with it on its own merits. Many clients may have unusual properties, complex income streams, shared ownership, or right to buy, and this is where the expertise of specialist lenders comes into play.
It is anticipated that self -employed clients will increasingly turn to specialist lenders as they often find it difficult to obtain finance on the high street, therefore brokers are ensuring that they target this segment of the market place. We have also seen the recent PRA changes that have affected the buy-to-let sector, and the different lending requirements & underwriting changes for portfolio landlords. Both will have a significant impact on the industry going forward.
Brokers will need to look out for lenders requesting more information than previously on the properties a landlord owns in the background, as well as the property the lender is securing their loan against. Therefore it is highly likely we will see a move towards specialist lenders as the mainstream lenders will struggle to cope with the flexibility and new approach which will be required in a lot of portfolio cases.
Overall the outlook for the above sector is a very positive one and the year ahead looks likely to see growth continuing.