According to the data — collected from a series of webinars hosted by the lender in February — there is significant capacity among brokers for more business, with just 14% of survey respondents saying that they had turned away more bridging cases in the last 12 months, compared to 57% who could place more.

However, despite the positive outlook for the year, the survey highlighted that intermediaries are still struggling with certain challenges when arranging bridging finance deals.

Around 60% of brokers cited the placement of higher LTV cases as their biggest impediment, followed by securing finance for foreign nationals (37%) — suggesting that lenders are continuing to exercise caution.

For borrowers and brokers new to the market, how interest is calculated/repayment terms is the most confusing area (cited by 49% of respondents), followed by the legal process (39%) and the application process (32%).

In addition, the data highlighted a lack of demand for bridging finance for permitted development projects, with three quarters of brokers said that either less than 25% of their landlord clients (43%), or none (26%), have asked them to arrange bridging finance relating to this.

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Over half of respondents (54%) cited a lack of suitable properties as the main obstacle for this lack of demand, followed by fluctuating valuations and access to finance.

Nick Hilton, managing director at Glenhawk (pictured above), said: “Building on what was a remarkably robust 2021, buoyed by changing consumer behaviour, supportive government stimulus and a low interest rate environment, expectations are high for 2022. 

“These findings align with the exceptionally high levels of enquiries we have generated so far this year, with the market opportunity as Covid-19 fades into the distance set to grow considerably this year. 

“At the same time, there remain challenges, noticeably the continued need for lenders to simplify and increase transparency for the borrower process, while more highly leveraged schemes will remain out of favour, especially if recent global events take on a more urgent focus. 

“Furthermore, despite the welcome changes to permitted development last year and optimism about its potential, huge swathes of the market remain unaware of the opportunity, so there is a significant education piece to be undertaken in the coming months.”