Record-breaking H1 sees bridging specialist lending c£100m a month
West One Loans, one of the UK’s largest non-bank lenders, has published its short-term lending results for the first half of 2021 - revealing an exceptionally strong performance from its bridging product and industry-leading turnaround times.
The specialist bridging lender, which has remained open for business throughout the COVID crisis, said a total of £2.3bn sets of terms were issued in H1, which is up 29% on the same period last year.
The overall increase in activity in the housing market, and demand from borrowers expanding and diversifying their portfolios, have been some of the key drivers of performance at West One. The lender has seen gross completions up 32% from H1 2020, to £485m for 2021 throughout its short-term bridging and development offering.
Nick Jones, sales director for Bridging at West One said: “It has certainly been a strong period of growth for the business and really sets the pace for the second half of the year, as we expect to build on this success.
“Clearly there is high demand in the market. But the level of customer service, quality of the product and quick turnaround time from the team at West One, has meant we’ve been able to maximise those opportunities.
“Our long-standing and strong relationships with our broker and intermediary network have also been a key factor. When you’re working with quality partners day-in-day-out, it makes the whole process more efficient and helps bring down the turnaround times to industry-leading levels.
“It also demonstrates the strength of the bridging finance sector right now, as increasingly people are looking to specialist lenders to achieve their property-owning aspirations.”
Myles Williams, CEO at broker First 4 Bridging, commented on the results, saying it demonstrated West One’s commitment to the industry over the past 12 months.
He added: “West One’s positioning in the marketplace with its broad product offering, coupled with the quality and speed of service makes them a ‘go to’ lender for time-sensitive and larger loan size applications. This company knows short-term lending.”
*EY’s 2021 bridging survey revealed 54% believed average days to complete to be 40 days or over with only 13% believing it to be 35 days or less.
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