News

The specialist finance and commercial market includes a wide range of varying transactions, one area not everyone is conscious can sit within this sphere are those cases which cross between regulated mortgages and specialist finance. These scenarios range from a trading business forming part of the residential security, a home mortgage where the applicant has non-standard income sources, an overseas resident buying in the UK, or more commonly, Regulated Bridging Finance.

Whilst we are known for our expertise in commercial financing solutions, we also handle and specialise in transactions across the property space. The requirement for Regulated Bridging has seen significant growth over the last year and trends suggesting this will only increase.

Our Introducing partners, lenders, and the entire financial market are all impacted by the residential housing market; we are no different, the Omega team closely monitors and reacts to current news and challenges to ensure our service always delivers on the specific requirements of our introducing partners and clients. In the first of a two-part series, we examine what is affecting market movement, trends and potentially interest rates.

Low unemployment and stable interest rates

Generally, we hear positive news across the financial markets. Unemployment rate is currently low, real earnings are increasing albeit marginally, household balance sheets are solid, and borrowing costs look likely to continue to decrease off the back of last week rate cut and potential further cuts in upcoming quarters, according to expectations shared by various analysts.

The Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (RICS) published reports stating that June saw the first rise in new buyer enquiries since December 2024. While this is positive news, low stock on the market is impacting prices and sales time. A 14% increase in homes for sale compared to last year is limiting house price growth, especially in high-priced areas, according to property listing site Zoopla.

“In London and the Southeast and Southwest regions of England, the number of homes for sale is 16-19% higher than a year ago. At the same time, house prices are barely rising, by less than 0.5% over the last year,” Richard Donnell, executive director of research at Zoopla.

Long sales process

A limitation felt by all is the significant increase in time taken for homes to sell, due in part to the low stock on the market, but it is not the only factor. The trend in recent years has been that sellers will only consider a buyer if that interested party has sold their existing house. This wasn’t the case in the past, and arguably, the market moved quicker. There also seems to be delays in admin and legal processing that impact the whole chain, having a knock-on effect on the speed of sales.

The bottom line is that buyers are looking at 5 to 6 months from the point they agree to sell their property to physically moving.  Low housing stock on the market means the entire process can take up to a year. This elongated process means more people risk losing their dream properties or completing on their dream move.

There are, however, solutions our team can offer that mean clients don’t have to wait.

Regulated Bridging Loans

We work closely with our introducing partners, IFAs and brokers to secure Regulated Bridging Loans where the finance is agreed on the existing home, the new home or a combination thereof, using the asset value rather than income. The loan is repaid once the sale concludes or remortgage achieved, but means people can move straight into their new home without waiting for the sale of the current property.

This isn’t appropriate for all clients, and we work hard to ensure we only secure regulated bridging loans for clients where it represents suitable advice.

We will dive into more detail in part two, but if you want to find out more about this today, click here to contact one of the team or call 0333 6000 007.