Shawbrook, the specialist UK savings, development finance, and bridging finance bank, has published its latest survey results, showing Broker Confidence in the UK lending environment.  82% felt assured about it, despite the impending end of the stamp duty holiday.

The survey of 187 Brokers did show that concern remains about the financial impact of the pandemic, as 59% felt that personal finances will be the biggest challenge to property purchases this year.  This is due to government support schemes like furlough ending, and 34% of brokers feel that employment uncertainty is the greatest barrier facing clients.

An overwhelming majority of 76% of the respondents named issues with valuations as the greatest challenge they are liable to face this year.

Gavin Seaholme, Head of Sales at Shawbrook Bank, said: “The housing market was strong before the pandemic and has proved resilient throughout – therefore it is no surprise that broker confidence remains high for the market for the rest of 2021.

Brokers have a key role to play in supporting and advising their clients on their next step, whether that’s a new property purchase or remortgage.

While landlords and investors’ finances are expected to be the biggest barrier to property purchases in the next six months, ensuring clients are aware of all of the funding options available to them may make adding a new property to their portfolio a real possibility.

When it comes to challenges facing brokers, issues with valuations remains a top concern. It is important that lenders do what they can to support brokers with this.

At Shawbrook this year, we have expanded the use of AVMs and widened our valuation panel, with a dedicated panel of valuers for bridging cases.

We will continue to think of ways we can alleviate these concerns amongst our broker community.”

Original article featured here…

Shawbrook recently published data showing that 46% of landlords reduced monthly rent payments during the pandemic for their tenants.