High net worth market

The HNW market like many other area's of the market is currently somewhat depressed. Lenders are still in this market but are not pricing as competitively as in previous years, reflecting their caution about the current state and direction of the property market and economy in general. We are seeing our larger loan clients exercising caution when viewing property whilst at the same time they are aware that now is a potentially good time to buy. Our larger portfolio landlord clients are foucussing on yield with HMO's outside of London offering good potential. HNW clients tend to be less risk averse than normal buyers and they are aware that the best time to negotiate on property is whilst prices are unstable. Those with larger cash positions are looking to leverage this to their advantage by seeking a return from specific properties/areas rather than in the past when they relied on general market performance to achieve returns.

The HNW market is more challenging now than it was during the pandemic as property sales have slowed down.

However, whilst there are challenges, we have seen an increase in enquiries for alternative solutions, predominantly used for HNW's. Funding for lombard finance is more popular as many clients do not want to sell their stocks portfolio at this time, preferring to hold and raise funding secured against this for other purposes or reinvesting more.

Demand is still strong for large loans, many high street banks are getting more competitive as they are trying to take some of the business from private banks. This is good for standard cases, but usually, the private banks are the best for complex situations, a common scenario with HNW clients.