The property finance market has been on a wild rollercoaster of base rate and inflation changes, saw the housing minister being replaced twice, and witnessed half of the plans for the long-awaited HS2 project being scrapped, among many other market developments. In the specialist finance sector, the ever-changing BTL rules have made landlords’ heads spin, bridging loan books hit a record high of £7.3bn in Q3 2023 according to the ASTL, and the chancellor Jeremy Hunt has pledged £32m to clear the planning backlog to boost housebuilding—and that’s just the tip of the iceberg.

Having all been through a lot this year, we figured the best way to end 2023 was to look back at all the lessons learnt these past 12 months, and highlight the pearls of wisdom gained in order to prepare us for the year ahead. First off, some of the graduates of the new specialist finance qualification share their experience of taking the course, in the hopes it will encourage others to do the same. Meanwhile, Manuka Media’s founder Rosalia Lazzara-Tilley, Zenzic Capital’s CEO Nadine Buckland, and West One Loans’ head of bridging Tom Cantor reminisce about how their careers have evolved over the years up to this point, and what brought on their success. We also highlight the top lessons learnt during this year’s FP Show’s Live Criteria Clinics, held in partnership with Knowledge Bank.

To celebrate the 30th issue of the Bridging & Commercial Magazine, we wanted to prepare something truly special for The Wisdom Issue’s cover story, that embodies the theme and teaches everyone at least a little something—after all, learning never stops. This is why we brought three experts with over 20 years of experience in the sector face to face with industry newcomers, to gain knowledge from each other to ultimately further improve our sector. As somebody who has been working in the specialist finance market for four years, it was enlightening to see its evolution through different perspectives and to see people so eager to learn from each other, regardless of how many years one’s got under their belt—and I hope this is indeed a valuable gift to you as well.