According to the criteria specialist, borrowers may be using bridging loans to adapt commercial spaces either to accommodate hybrid working or completely repurpose properties, as more businesses adopt hybrid working models.
‘Regulated bridging’ continued to dominate bridging broker searches, with February marking the fourth consecutive month it was the top term.
‘Minimum loan amount’ and ‘maximum LTV’ also remained popular searches for both bridging and commercial, featuring in the top five for both categories.
In the commercial sector, there was also high demand from brokers searching for ‘semi-commercial properties’, which stood at second place.
Meanwhile in the BTL arena, the rental market continues to be of interest to new investors — as a result, ‘first-time landlord’ and ‘first-time buyer’ both featured prominently in brokers searches.
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However, the most searched term for BTL in February was ‘lending to limited companies’.
Matthew Corker, operations director at Knowledge Bank (pictured above), said: “Interest in bridging loans grew significantly in 2021, and the start of 2022 has seen attention in commercial property bridging loans increasing.
“These may be for buying commercial units, similarly to a residential bridge, when a chain breaks, or for refurbishments then either selling or refinancing onto a conventional commercial mortgage.
“The lending landscape has been evolving rapidly recently — the BTL market in particular has been volatile, and with the Bank of England increasing base rate, lenders will certainly continue to adapt.
“With this trend certain to continue, brokers need to ensure they are using a criteria search system so they stay up-to-date with all the latest changes.”
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