Bridging market remains resilient heading into 2027 despite 'tricky' year says panel

Bridging specialists were broadly optimistic for the market in 2027 and highlighted growing appetite for auction purchases at the 2026 Finance Professional Show.

Speaking to Nicola Firth, CEO at Knowledge Bank, the experts on the day’s first bridging finance panel acknowledged that following a challenging 2026, they expect to see higher demand and more new entrants to the market next year.

The audience diverged on where they expect their bridging business to be at the end of 2027, with the votes split between being “about the same or slightly lower”, and “significantly higher”.

Bridging predictions for 2027

Michael Stratton, founder and CEO at MS Lending Group, told the audience that 2026 has been “quite tricky in the bridging space”, citing property prices among other issues faced by specialist finance businesses.

Against this backdrop, for next year he forecast “another year of steady growth”.

Some panellists predicted a busier bridging market in 2027 and pointed to the importance of diversifying.

“We’ve seen several new lenders coming into the market and banks with bridging propositions,” said Richard Deacon, managing director for sales at Octane Capital.

Given that it is likely to get harder to place business, the onus will be on identifying the right lender, Richard noted, meaning the relationship with a lender or business development manager “is going to be absolutely key”.

Kim Parker, director of lending operations and commercial strategy at Hope Capital, said: “As much as it’s been tough this year, there’s still huge amounts of opportunity out there for investors.”
She continued: “And I think that’s where it comes down to a lender really diversifying their product offering, making what we do more flexible and amenable to investors to make sure they can still place deals.”

Geevan Binning, head of operations at Kuflink, agreed that next year there will be slightly higher demand for bridging finance and more opportunity in the market generally.

Up for auction

Nicola revealed that Knowledge Bank has received a number of enquiries about auction purchases in the second half of this year.

The panellists observed that the popularity of auction purchases is all about “seizing opportunities” and suggested that good communications with the underwriter are essential.

“Auction purchases have always been a core part of bridging. We’ve seen a lot more the past six months or so,” said Geevan.

Investors are seeing an opportunity to get below market value deals, and if they are sitting on cash, they can “pounce quite quickly”, he added.

“The biggest differential for me that I think makes or breaks an auction purchase, or an auction purchase lender, is the underwriter,” said Richard.

He suggested that communication with the underwriter to “get the deal done” is important, with Octane Capital having shifted to using WhatsApp and other phone communications, as opposed to email.

Paul Delmonte, sales director at Invocap, attributed the growing popularity of auction purchases to both the “availability” and “surety” of funding in the market, with lenders able to turn deals around quickly for “peace of mind”.

He also noted that with properties at auction generally bought at a lower value, the rental yields are “a massive kicker for a lot of clients”.