The majority of UK commercial finance brokers claim that speed is the biggest problem in securing a deal. 

A recent survey conducted by Regentsmead has suggested that the majority of UK commercial finance brokers claim that a lack of speed is the biggest dissatisfaction from lenders in recent years.

Results showed that 70 per cent of brokers admitted that lack of speed from lenders was a hindrance to seeing a deal over the line.  A further one in ten brokers also believed that the market would benefit from development finance cases becoming fully regulated. 

Commenting on the results of the survey conducted at the Regentsmead seminar in conjunction with NACFB, ‘Maximising your Development Finance Opportunities’, James Bloom, CEO of Regentsmead said: ‘Following the tremendous success of yet another well attended Regentsmead event, our survey concluded that most brokers in the room felt that a slow response level coupled with a lack of flexibility from lenders was their biggest challenge when gaining access to finance for their clients.’ 

James added: ‘Rather more promisingly, the general sentiment in the room was largely positive with regards to housing market and wider economic growth in the next five years.

“Brokers are looking at various different avenues as a way of sourcing new business. It is our mission to be different from the high street lenders by applying our expert knowledge of developer finance we can help our highly valued introducer partners reap the rewards from a tremendously buoyant market.”

The results also revealed that nearly 75 per cent of brokers surveyed claimed that a lack of understanding and flexibility from lenders is still one of the main issues when trying to secure a loan for their clients. 

Also commenting on the issues revealed, Russell Martin, of Finance 4 Business said: “Just because a lender has funds available, it does not mean they have the experience, knowledge or technical ability to complete transactions in line with clients and introducer requirements.

If a broker requires consistency in completing deals in a timely fashion, there can be no substitute for dealing with a lender with specialist knowledge of the section in which they operate.”