UTB Guide to Property Finance
ROUNDTABLE DISCUSSION: utilising bridging to acquire and fund refurbishment projects
On 22nd April, Bridging & Commercial partnered with United Trust Bank (UTB) for the latest instalment in the Medianett virtual roundtable series — this time on the topic of utilising bridging to acquire and fund refurbishment projects. Hosted by Medianett’s managing director, Caron Schreuder, alongside UTB’s key account managers Paul Delmonte and Owen Bentley, and underwriting manager Becky Kidby, the discussion also benefited from the expertise of several brokers, namely Samantha Pettit, business development manager at Crystal Specialist Finance; Bruno Welch, managing director and mortgage consultant at Clayton-Welch Associates; and Chris Oatway, owner and director at LDNfinance. During a brief overview of the current market, Owen identified strong appetite from investors to purchase at auction to ‘tart and turn’, and then sell or add these properties into their wider BTL portfolios. “Bridging has always been a dynamic vehicle that supports that.” Paul highlighted that clients are increasingly looking for ways to make their money work harder for them. “People aren’t getting the return for their money that the banks used to give . . . so they’re exploring other opportunities 8
to really make use of that money.” He suggested that this has led to borrowers considering further ways to generate profit based on the entire site, rather than just the property, such as the potential being realised by ex-pubs turned into flats or HMOs. Becky reported more refurbishment enquiries coming across her desk, of both the light and heavy variety, and an uptick in properties bought at auction. “Some of the permitted development changes that have come in [mean that] we’re seeing people looking at more unusual properties that may have had commercial use previously, and they’re now considering the opportunity to convert that into some kind of residential accommodation.” Coming on to bridging’s suitability for this type of deal, the group concurred that short-term finance can now achieve so much more than in previous years, and its flexibility has evolved. Samantha believes that the product has become more widely known among brokers and they are wanting to get more involved and educated in the space.
