The challenger bank announced it would no longer be accepting bridging applications despite only launching its offering two years ago.

Aldermore cited a change of focus to its core mortgage areas as the reason for leaving the market, but Jonathan Sealey, CEO of Hope Capital, felt the move showed that bridging was not as easy as it appeared from the outside.

“There are always going to be some people who underestimate the challenges and then decide that the market is not for them, so naturally there will continue to be companies that withdraw from every sector.

“While Aldermore had very valid reasons for refocusing on its core business, other lenders have reputedly struggled since the referendum with a shortage of funding from external funders. 

“Time will tell whether this materially affects lending levels or even some lenders’ ability to stay in the bridging market.”

Bob Sturges, head of PR and communications at Fortwell Capital, also questioned the future of the bridging market as he felt that it was an over-supplied market.

"Competitive pressures were already building in the sector pre-EU referendum, leading to lower pricing and increased risk-taking in the more popular parts of the market.

“Post-referendum, a new shock has been sharply administered by the nervous reaction of the money markets.

"Taking all this together, it is difficult to see how bridging – which, by any objective definition, is relatively small in scale and static in scope – can continue to support profitably the current number of active players."

Nick Hilton, head of lending at Century Capital, said it had already seen several lenders either scale back in terms of LTV or pull out of the bridging sector in recent weeks.

“Investor confidence post-Brexit was always going to impact the market in the short term.

“Until losses are crystallised or until valuers are able to assess house prices with post-Brexit comparable evidence, it is likely that we will see a level of uncertainty.

“The past 18 months has seen lots of new lenders enter an already saturated market, it is inevitable that some of these lenders will withdraw due to lack of track record and sustainability.”

Meanwhile, Mike Strange, managing director of Funding 365, said it was only somewhat surprising that Aldermore pulled out of the bridging market.

“The bridging business is one which requires intensive diligence and extreme lender flexibility – these are not always characteristics which sit comfortably in a traditional banking model. 

“The withdrawal of a competitor is, however, positive news for Funding 365 as we continue to increase our share of the market.”

Mint Bridging was also keen to take advantage. Speaking to Bridging & Commercial it said: “Companies introducing bridging loans as a sideline product may be deterred from making this a forefront, especially post-Brexit.

“Yet at Mint Bridging, this is solely our business and we are seeing great Brexit opportunities as a result.

“Tagging bridging to an existing company and opting out when push comes to shove, validates Mint's pivoting entrepreneurial approach (alongside other businesses that focus purely on bridging), [which] will ensure longevity in the marketplace.”

James Bloom, managing director of development finance at Masthaven Finance, added that the future of the bridging market looked positive.

“Although the industry is still in a state of flux following Brexit, with the recent interest rate change and the big banks potentially introducing negative rates, we expect to see demand increasing into 2017 and the market stabilising.”

Jonathan concluded that although it was sad to see Aldermore leave the market, it was good news for other bridging lenders.

“The good news is that there are principal lenders like Hope with our own capital, who are here for the long term and can pick up the additional demand for bridging loans. 

“There are also a considerable number of smaller lenders entering the market all the time as the returns remain solid for companies with the right underwriting and procedures in place.”