72% of bridging lenders expect their business to grow despite current economic climate
By Sam MonkAlmost three-quarters of bridging lenders (72%) expect their business to grow over the next six months, according to a recent report
The Association of Short Term Lenders’ (ASTL) latest sentiment survey revealed that this was an increase on the figure for June, when only 59% of bridging lenders expected their business to grow.
In addition, more than 75% of respondents were confident about the long-term prospects for the UK economy, compared with just 50% in the previous survey.
Other highlights from the survey included:
- 52% of respondents expected the bridging market to grow in the next six months (June 2019: 23%)
- 55% identified the slow-moving property market as the biggest challenge for bridging lenders
- most lenders claimed that they would choose to leave the EU with Boris Johnson’s Brexit deal, whereas back in January, 75% of respondents said that they would vote to remain if there was a second referendum
Benson Hersch, CEO at the ASTL (pictured above), said: “Overall, our members are very positive about prospects for the UK, their own businesses and the bridging sector as a whole.
“Competition is expected to increase slightly in the next six months, but this seems to hold little concern for our members, and the downward slope in positivity has been reversed.”
Keywords: ASTL, The Association of Short Term Lenders, bridging lenders, bridging finance, bridging and commercial, bridging sector, short term finance, financial services, lending market, specialist lenders, lending market, short term loans