Bridging lending down in Q1

Bridging lending down in Q1

Gross bridging lending slowed on a monthly and yearly basis in the first quarter of 2017.

In Q1 2017 lending reached £118.79m, 5.5% lower than Q4 2016 (£125.66m) and down 5.23% from Q1 2016 (£125.35m).

The Bridging Trends data comes from bridging lender MTF, packager Brightstar Financial and brokers Enness Private Clients, Positive Lending and SPF Short Term Finance.

Michael Perry, bridging finance broker at Enness Private Clients, said the market “appears to have experienced somewhat of a hangover from the financial uncertainty of 2016”.

But Kit Thompson, director of short-term lending and development at Brightstar Financial, said “I do not see [the drop in lending] as significant” or a “sign of a shrinking market”.