In Partnership with
Why specialist lending is thriving again
As the UK’s unsettled economy impacts borrowers, and some high street lenders decline to loan, specialist lending is attracting fresh attention. Mortgage Introducer’s specialist lending roundtable investigates the market
Tanya Elmaz
Together
Industry experts
Mark Hutchings
Market Financial Solutions
An experienced financial services professional with 20 years of extensive specialist lending and market knowledge, Tanya Elmaz began her career as a business development manager, covering Central and Greater London. As director of intermediary relations, Elmaz is now responsible for leading and managing the field sales team at Together. She has the experience and the knowledge, across the regulated and unregulated sectors, to add value to broker relationships directly through education. Elmaz also supports the sales channel in providing straightforward lending solutions to intermediary partners and is a bridging expert who takes pride in being able to offer solutions in complex scenarios.
Together
Tanya Elmaz
With over 10 years of industry experience, Mark Hutchings has honed his expertise in facilitating finance for various property investment projects and cultivated a vast network of industry experts. Since joining Market Financial Solutions in 2022, he’s offered specialist finance to a diverse range of brokers as business development manager. Having played a role in several profitable investments, Hutchings’ deep understanding of the nuances of bespoke finance plays a crucial role in organising tailored funding for complex property purchases. Adept at working with investors facing unique circumstances, he welcomes all enquiries, from portfolio landlords with adverse credit histories to overseas buyers.
Market Financial Solutions
Mark Hutchings
“While there’s been turbulence and unpredictability, there’s also been opportunities that have been opening up… The specialist lending market always fills a gap, in turbulent economic times, that the mainstream market doesn’t satisfy”
Tanya Elmaz,
Together
WITH COST-OF-LIVING pressures biting for many, specialist lending is providing a viable alternative for customers struggling to secure funding from high street lenders. Many more people, it seems, are failing to meet the criteria of mainstream lenders and are seeking to borrow from specialist lenders.
Recent figures, based on data provided by members of the Association of Short Term Lenders, show an increase in bridging loan completions in the fourth quarter of 2023, rising by 18.4% in the third quarter of the year to reach £1.69 billion. Loan books also continued to rise in Q4 2023, increasing by 4.2% to reach a new high of £7.6 billion.
So, this suggests it could prove to be a golden time for specialist lending.
To gain a better understanding of the market currently and the challenges it faces, Mortgage Introducer, in association with specialist lenders Together and Market Financial Solutions, brought together two of their own highly knowledgeable experts for what proved to be a fascinating discussion.
“Market confidence is coming back as a whole, bringing a lot of people into the market, fulfilling lots of opportunities… I’m more optimistic than ever that we’re going to see a lot of big transactions”
Mark Hutchings,
Market Financial Solutions
Both experts were invited to define the beauty of specialist lending.
“One of the main things is the speed and flexibility that specialist lenders can provide,” Hutchings suggested, highlighting too that it wasn’t a sector that performed tick-box exercises. “A lot of brokers who normally wouldn’t work in the specialist finance sector, they’re now moving into it because they see the benefits and they’re able to do deals which they thought they weren’t able to do.”
Elmaz believes that access to funding is a key attribute of specialist lending, particularly when high street lenders had less appetite to do so, and referenced too the bespoke nature of specialist solutions.
“Specialist lending is not one size fits all,” she said. “The more
Next, the panel considered the lender-broker relationship.
Elmaz said: “If the relationship between the broker and the lender is as it should be, then that’s going to get you the best possible outcome for the transaction. When brokers and clients understand what is expected of them and the lender understands what’s expected of them, then that paves the way for open communication.
“It’s also about presenting cases in a way that makes sense because you have to show all of the information so the lender can make the right decision.”
grow their portfolios. There’s opportunity for the government to take action as well with regards to planning, so that it can be easier and quicker for developers and investors to do what they need to do. And then, finally, tax cuts, tax breaks, incentives, grants – these sorts of things – to really bolster the property market and the specialist lending market as well.”
They were Tanya Elmaz, director of intermediary relations at Together, and Mark Hutchings, who is business development manager at Market Financial Solutions.
Describing Together, Elmaz said: “We’ve been opening doors to help people access flexible, common-sense, specialist lending since 1974. Our heritage gives us an incredible breadth and depth of understanding into the specialist lending property market. We lend about £250 million every single month and our loan book is at about £7 billion.”
Hutchings said of Market Financial Solutions: “We’re a specialist bridging, buy-to-let, as well as commercial term lender. Our business has been growing massively over the last 18 months – we are employing an extra 50 staff to accommodate the extra volume of business we’re currently facing. Our current loan book is one and a half billion.”
Hutchings explained: “A lot of what I do as a BDM is relationship focused. Fortunately, the main brokers I’ve worked with I’ve got very strong, personal relationships with now, which makes everything a lot easier, especially when you’re working with someone where you know how they work, they know how you work, things get done a lot quicker and a lot easier.”
How much awareness of the market is there, and how much need, therefore, for more education?
“You don’t need to know what every lender is doing,” Hutchings said. “You need to get yourself a few core lenders that can satisfy everything, whether it be a bit of development finance, commercial term, whatever it may be, and you can pretty much service any type of client that walks through your door.
BRIDGING HITS NEW HEIGHTS
Completions increased in Q4 2023 to reach £1.69bn, up 18.4% on Q3
So how do they both view the market currently?
“It’s a very interesting market at the moment and one that we are seeing more and more people enter,” Hutchings said. “People who wouldn’t normally have used specialist finance 12 to 18 months ago are now having to turn to specialist finance lenders either because of the way the deals are structured, the types of property they are buying or the location.”
Elmaz noted: “While there’s been turbulence and unpredictability, there’s also been opportunities that have been opening up. There have been challenges with lenders and borrowers getting used to higher interest rates and different affordability, stress tests and things of that nature, but the specialist lending market always fills a gap, in turbulent economic times, that the mainstream market doesn’t satisfy.”
personalised a solution that can be built – and that’s what specialist learning is all about – the more advantageous it is for the end customer.”
Read on
Finally, the experts considered how the market would fare, going forward.
“The short lease market seems to be quite a popular one at the moment,” Hutchings said. “I think there’s going to be a whole wide range of investment opportunity – buy-to-let is going to make a big comeback. So, I think market confidence is coming back as a whole, bringing a lot of people into the market, fulfilling lots of opportunities that provide good, solid properties for the much-needed UK market. This year I’m more optimistic than ever that we’re going to see a lot of big transactions and a lot more frequent transactions as well.”
Elmaz shared Hutchings’ optimism, particularly around demand for HMOs, multi-unit freehold blocks, holiday lets, student accommodation, and social housing and care accommodation.
“We believe the market is bullish this year,” she said. “Seventy-five percent of investors that we spoke to have actually said they want to
Known as a property finance specialist, Together has a long heritage of lending. Since 1974, it has helped thousands of individuals, investors and businesses realise their property ambitions with what it calls its common-sense approach to providing funds. Together has a proven track record of growth that’s seen its loan book rise beyond £6 billion, and it’s received a host of awards and accolades for its products and services. It is dedicated to giving its partners and its customers a great experience, which is, it says, reflected in its reviews and in exceeding four stars across Google, Feefo and Trustpilot.
In Partnership with
Why specialist lending is thriving again
As the UK’s unsettled economy impacts borrowers, and some high street lenders decline to loan, specialist lending is attracting fresh attention. Mortgage Introducer’s specialist lending roundtable investigates the market
Read on
Mark Hutchings
Market Financial Solutions
Tanya Elmaz
Together
Industry experts
An experienced financial services professional with 20 years of extensive specialist lending and market knowledge, Tanya Elmaz began her career as a business development manager, covering Central and Greater London. As director of intermediary relations, Elmaz is now responsible for leading and managing the field sales team at Together. She has the experience and the knowledge, across the regulated and unregulated sectors, to add value to broker relationships directly through education. Elmaz also supports the sales channel in providing straightforward lending solutions to intermediary partners and is a bridging expert who takes pride in being able to offer solutions in complex scenarios.
Together
Tanya Elmaz
With over 10 years of industry experience, Mark Hutchings has honed his expertise in facilitating finance for various property investment projects and cultivated a vast network of industry experts. Since joining Market Financial Solutions in 2022, he’s offered specialist finance to a diverse range of brokers as business development manager. Having played a role in several profitable investments, Hutchings’ deep understanding of the nuances of bespoke finance plays a crucial role in organising tailored funding for complex property purchases. Adept at working with investors facing unique circumstances, he welcomes all enquiries, from portfolio landlords with adverse credit histories to overseas buyers.
Market Financial Solutions
Mark Hutchings
In Partnership with
Why specialist lending is thriving again
As the UK’s unsettled economy impacts borrowers, and some high street lenders decline to loan, specialist lending is attracting fresh attention. Mortgage Introducer’s specialist lending roundtable investigates the market
Read on
Mark Hutchings
Market Financial Solutions
Tanya Elmaz
Together
Industry experts
With over 10 years of industry experience, Mark Hutchings has honed his expertise in facilitating finance for various property investment projects and cultivated a vast network of industry experts. Since joining Market Financial Solutions in 2022, he’s offered specialist finance to a diverse range of brokers as business development manager. Having played a role in several profitable investments, Hutchings’ deep understanding of the nuances of bespoke finance plays a crucial role in organising tailored funding for complex property purchases. Adept at working with investors facing unique circumstances, he welcomes all enquiries, from portfolio landlords with adverse credit histories to overseas buyers.
Market Financial Solutions
Mark Hutchings
An experienced financial services professional with 20 years of extensive specialist lending and market knowledge, Tanya Elmaz began her career as a business development manager, covering Central and Greater London. As director of intermediary relations, Elmaz is now responsible for leading and managing the field sales team at Together. She has the experience and the knowledge, across the regulated and unregulated sectors, to add value to broker relationships directly through education. Elmaz also supports the sales channel in providing straightforward lending solutions to intermediary partners and is a bridging expert who takes pride in being able to offer solutions in complex scenarios.
Together
Tanya Elmaz
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An interesting market of opportunity
Published 01 April 2024
An award-winning, specialist finance lender with over 17 years’ industry experience, Market Financial Solutions offers a wide range of bespoke bridging finance and specialist buy-to-let mortgage products. It focuses on providing brokers with speed and flexibility so it can best support its clients looking to purchase property in England or Wales. Every enquiry receives a response within four hours, Market Financial Solutions says, and it underwrites loans from Day 1, to find the best solution for the borrower. With no tick-box criteria, it looks for reasons to lend, so that a broker can move forward with a client’s case confidently.
Loan books increased in Q4 2023 to reach £7.6bn, up 16% on Q4 2022
Average LTVs increased to 58.7% in Q4 2023, up from 57.7% in Q3 2023
Source: The Association of Short Term Lenders
Average loan completion time
Average loan term
Average
loan-to-value
LOANS IN NUMBERS
Source: Bridging Trends 2023
59 days
months
12
57%
Looking to the future of specialist lending
“I think normally once you get one or two deals away, you realise, actually, that was quite a painless process. Most lenders, if you’re not fully up to date, will hold your hand through that process.”
Elmaz observed: “There is a need for brokers to get more up to date and on the case with specialist lending. There are so many lenders who provide webinars, workshops, talks, events, blogs, information on their websites. At Together, we host something called Chalk, which is a resource hub where we put all of our how-to guides on to our website.
“I think if mainstream brokers understood the mindset behind the fact that it’s about building a solution, they will understand that there’s no lending challenge that a specialist lender can’t satisfy, in some way, shape or form.”
Elmaz was clear in the message she would offer to the adviser community: “Recognise the opportunities and step into them. You are helping customers, borrowers, consumers get to the endgame – the opportunity for growth in property. Finance is there, and if you don’t grab and understand the opportunities that are around, you are missing a trick.”
Hutchings urged: “I think the first step is always the hardest step. Always be upfront with everything in the scenario, so the lender can know best how to help you.”
The lender-broker relationship's impact on transactions
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Copyright © 1996-2024 KM Business Information UK Ltd.
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Terms & Conditions
Conditions of Use
Contact us
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Authors
About us
Newsletter
News
MORTGAGE INDUSTRY
BEST IN MORTGAGE
MORTGAGE TYPES
TV
Resources
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CA
AU
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