"After the challenges faced in 2017, it is encouraging to see that brokers’ confidence is strong as we enter the New Year."
An mtf survey found that 68% of brokers believe overall market conditions will improve in 2018, a sea change in opinion from January 2017 when only 31% of brokers surveyed were confident about the year ahead.
Half of the brokers surveyed said macroeconomic uncertainty would be the main challenge for UK financial services firms in 2018, while 28% cited the impact of Brexit negotiations, and 13% said the level of market competition would be the biggest challenge. Only 6% of brokers thought regulation would prove a challenge.
Despite this, demand for specialist finance is expected to remain strong, with 84% of brokers preparing for a further rise in bridging finance volume in 2018, after 73% of those questioned reported an actual rise in bridging loan volume in 2017.
Respondents to a Shawbrook survey were also upbeat about the year ahead, despite citing Brexit as one of the biggest issues likely to impact their clients in 2018.
78% stated that they feel confident about the lending environment in the forthcoming year, up from 72% in 2017, while 69% also feel confident about business growth.
In the Shawbrook survey, the top three challenges brokers expect their businesses to face in 2018 are lending restrictions (26%) regulatory change (25%) and valuation issues (16%).
James Anderson, Head of New Business at mtf, commented: “After the challenges faced in 2017, it is encouraging to see that brokers’ confidence is strong as we enter the New Year.
“I’m delighted that brokers see the demand for a growth in bridging finance in 2018 and the reasons are simple. Bridging loans provide a real-time solution to the funding gap that has developed as high street lenders come to terms with increased regulation. We can continue to expect to see a substantial rise in the demand for bridging finance throughout the rest of the year.”
Karen Bennett, Managing Director – Commercial Mortgages, said: “Despite some of the uncertainties surrounding the PRA changes and the possible impact of Brexit, it is encouraging to see so much positivity in the commercial mortgage broker market when looking at the year ahead. It’s also fantastic to see so many brokers reporting such encouraging results in business volumes, demonstrating the robustness of the commercial mortgage market”.
