This represents a 73% monthly, year on year increase - and is more than double what was lent in April 2011, with a final lending figure for April of £41,752,623,000.
This makes April the eighteenth consecutive month of a year-on-year increase in secured lending.
Sam Busfield, Managing Director of Loans Warehouse comments:
“Breaking the £40,000,000 barrier is a milestone and reaffirms the resurgence of our industry. With the year-on-year monthly figures demonstrating sustained growth, everything is pointing towards 2013 being the real turning point; there will no doubt be many challenges ahead but there is an appetite and buzz within the industry not seen for some time”.
“The secured loan industry is pleased to announce that for the first time we have a representative on the AMI board, with Marie Grundy of VLoans being appointed earlier this week”.
Marie said the following about what she hopes to achieve in her new role:
“I am honoured to have been elected by my fellow members of the AFB to represent the interests of the second charge market on the board of AMI. There has never been a more crucial time for anyone involved in the second charge market to pull together and get involved in the debates and issues that currently face us. I aim to represent brokers of all sizes and business models and promote an industry I am passionate about to a wider audience”.
“My main aims for my new role will be to utilise my industry contacts to increase the membership numbers of the AFB, and lobby existing members to get more involved with their trade body to increase the input at our regular meetings.”
Her role will be to:
- Positively promote the secured loan industry & use the platform of AMI to increase awareness amongst intermediaries of the importance of the inclusion of secured loans within their product choices, including the important role specialist loan packagers play in providing advice and support to the wider intermediary market.
- To benefit from the new partnership with colleagues at AMI to assert influence on the future shape of regulation as a combined force.
- To present issues and challenges which the marketplace faces which may present a barrier to our ability to do business.
- Look for synergies as to how AFB can work effectively with AMI colleagues for the benefit of both our industries.
Marie finished by saying:
“Urging any finance brokers who are not currently members of the AFB to consider joining so that the interests of our industry as a whole can be more fairly represented. This is imperative if we are to utilise the opportunities presented by the inclusion of an AFB representative on the AMI board”.
Sam Busfield continues:
"Another positive note is earlier this month Halifax announced house prices in the three months to April were 1.3% higher than in the previous three months.
"Less positive was the increase in second charge repossessions in the first quarter of 2013 to 226. However, according to the Finance & Leasing Association (FLA) the overall figures remain low and they have forecast less than 750 repossessions this year despite the increased activity in the market.
"The biggest change in secured loan lending last month was Masthaven Secured Loans’ announcement that they were increasing the maximum LTV on their BTL range to a market leading 70% LTV."
Stuart Aitken, Chief Operating Officer of MSL commented:
“We are very happy with the quality and performance of our BTL lending so far, and this month were delighted to introduce the first 70% LTV mainstream product seen in the secured market for a number of years. For reasons including relative affordability, tighter lending criteria, and a dearth of mortgage availability, renting from private landlords has almost doubled over the last decade, while home ownership remained static. As a result, the CML recently reported that BTL was up 14% year on year in Q1 of 2013, and is now 13.4% of all lending. Performance of BTL is better than the owner occupied sector too – only 8.3% of all arrears were on BTL lending. BTL will continue to thrive, and MSL will look to consolidate and grow our share of this exciting market.”
Sam Busfield concluded:
"The secured loan market continues to grow with activity in almost every area of secured lending, the growth in BTL secured loans looks to follow in the footsteps of the BTL mortgage market, with rates on both residential and BTL secured loans at all-time lows."
