32 per cent of borrowers used a broker to find their current mortgage, 24 per cent stuck with their existing bank, and 21 per cent chose to get a new product from a previous mortgage provider
More than half of UK homeowners would consider opting for a specialist lender in their mortgage search, even if they had not come across the provider before.
A survey of 690 mortgage customers by Butterfield Mortgages found that 32 per cent of borrowers used a broker to find their current mortgage, 24 per cent stuck with their existing bank, and 21 per cent chose to get a new product from a previous mortgage provider.
This rise has seen specialist lending ‘forced into the spotlight’ post-covid in particular, according to Sam O’Neill, head of bridging at Clifton Personal Finance.
O’Neill said: With increasing regulation over time and lowering of rates, bridging and other specialist lending is becoming more and more mainstream. It’s no longer about being ‘brave’.
Bridging, in particular, has come to the forefront because of the uncertainty around Covid creating breaks in chains, a change in lifestyle as people want to do work on their current properties quickly to suit their needs, clients opting to be cash buyers and utilising bridging to capitalise on a hot property market and the stamp duty deadline rush that meant clients risked losing money if they missed it, he said.
Ian Hewett, founder at The Bearded Broker, reported seeing an approximate 25 per cent rise in specialist clients across the board over the past few years, citing the rigidity and ‘no common sense from mainstream lenders who just say no if it doesn’t tick a box’, as pushing potential customers toward specialists.
He said: The rise is mainly to do with self-employed people, and how some lenders won’t take the most recent years’ income. Specialist lenders are doing it right by taking a look at the whole business. When you’ve got 15 years’ solid trading and one year that’s a covid blip then you should be looking at the 15 years, not the blip.
