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Specialist lending in 2024

Journalist: Anna Sagar, Mortgage Solutions / Specialist Lending Solutions

ended 03. January 2024

Interested in speaking to mortgage brokers about what their expectations for specialist lending are for 2024 and what they would like to see from lenders. 

  • What are the biggest opportunities and challenges for the specialist lending sector this year?
  • Are there any areas that you expect to grow/contract in the coming year? 
  • What do you want to see from lenders in the space? New products/changes in pricing/changes in criteria?

6 responses from the Newspage community

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Justin Moy
Managing Director at EHF Mortgages
We have already started to see many lenders, both specialist and mainstream, overhaul their lending criteria, allowing more people unable to borrow to be in scope. There will be more clients who would probably fit under the 'Near Prime' category, so have missed or been late with a few payments but not extreme. This is the space many of the building society lenders are looking to support, and there is every chance that high street lenders will be interested in these clients too, recognising that these borrowers were typically 'Prime' and circumstances have not been easy. Rates priced between Prime and Specialist sectors will give a good return to lenders, and a more viable option for those new borrowers within this market.
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Scott Taylor-Barr
Principal Adviser at Barnsdale Financial Management
It's time for the specialist sector to really spread its wings in 2024. Historically "specialist" has been a more polite word for adverse credit lending and a huge portion of the sector is still focused in that area, which is a shame. As the top tier lenders fight over being the lowest cost mortgage by 0.01%, the need grows for the lenders happy to consider the less straightforward cases; those working multiple jobs, or with strange income patterns, gig workers, bank workers, low basic high bonus employment, visa applications, or those with limited time in the UK. These are all examples of areas where the "computer says no" style of underwriting used by the largest players falls down and the hands-on, experienced, real-world underwriters employed by the specialists can really shine.
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James Miles
Director - Mortgage Adviser at The Mortgage Quarter
Despite a turbulent year in 2023 we've actually seen the specilist lenders lead prodcut change and development and I expect to see more to come. Traditionaly specialist lending has come at a premium but they can really stand out this year and offer something new such as generational mortgages and further support for deposits and affordability by being more creative. With flexilbility and less legacy system specialist lenders have a hand-up over the juggernaut high street lenders who are focusing on the bottom-line and their shareholders.
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Alastair Hoyne
CEO, Finanze Capital at Finanze Capital
We need to remove the historical association of specialist lenders with 'sub-prime' products. In fact, we've seen some real innovation with those most agile lenders taking advice from us at the coal face and adapting and developing products to suit changing and emerging needs and opportunities. The growth of Supported Living, Holiday Lets and high-quality HMO's has provided some lucrative business and for us, Title Splitting in particular is where we've created specialist award-winning products in an area where we've seen real growth that's set to continue this year. Criteria needs to take account of established as well as new investors and underwriting must keep pace with changes in investment strategies.

Happy to arrange to talk in detail about this: just email me via marketing@finanze.co.uk
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Adam Smith
Founder at Alfa Mortgages

In the last year, we've been diving deep into commercial mortgages and bridging finance. The more we do, the more people are pointing others our way. Looking ahead to 2024, we're pumped to ramp up our efforts in bridging, which is totally in the spotlight now. It's like a must-have tool for any investor, and we're all about making it even bigger.
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Austyn Johnson
Founder at Mortgages For Actors
More emphasis on the self employed variable income, so many people became self employed during 2020 and now are holding 2-3 years of tax calcs. Lenders can start to be more confident without the need to check every bank statement and every penny spent. Self employed people are more secure than PAYE. Why not lend to them like they are. Specialist lenders are our go-to due to their better understanding, but there can still be some tweaks made here and there.