MMR causing specialist market surge

Without banging the drum too much, it is evident that the mainstream mortgage market is feeling the effects of the Mortgage Market Review (MMR), which is hardly surprising as lenders try to adapt.

However, what it does mean is that we are seeing more and more possibilities for the second charge market due to the teething problems surrounding affordability and repercussions for borrowers and their remortgage requirements.

Moving away from MMR, from a specialist distribution perspective we are currently experiencing a real surge in buy-to-let business. The rental market continues to thrive with more and more opportunities presenting themselves for buy-to-let landlords.

We’re especially seeing a raft of repeat business from professional landlords who are looking to increase their portfolios by releasing new equity in current properties to fund further purchases. This increase in activity and renewed interest from the intermediary community was clearly apparent at the recent Buy to Let Market Forum.

Events such as these remain great platforms for brokers to approach lenders and distributors in a far more intimate and personal environment to help them really get to grips with how they can embrace coming strategy, as well as existing opportunities. The appetite among brokers was tangible and it will be interesting to see how much extra business is written on the back of this clear desire to bolster buy-to-let propositions.

As with most components in the mortgage market, specialist lending continues to move at a strong pace and as such it’s important for brokers and distributors to ensure all links in the chain keep up to speed with changes in order to maximise their potential.

With general economic confidence continuing to swell and more providers coming to market adding an additional layer of competition/innovation, it’s this growing momentum that will see the specialist lending arena go from strength to strength in the coming months.