Today’s news that 85% of buy-to-let lenders still remain in the market demonstrates how robust these institutions are.
I think we’re seeing evidence that the reaction to the global financial crisis – where firms started lending more carefully and having plenty of capital in reserve – means they better set up to withstand difficult conditions like we’re currently seeing.
Firms are quickly adapting to the current conditions and looking to handle remortgage business, as Precise Mortgages quickly re-entered the market after finding a desktop valuation solution for example.
While it may take time for loan-to-values to creep up to their previous levels, it looks like these instructions will be raring to help landlords looking to buy once this lockdown period is over.
Clearly this has been a tough time for firms, but it has at least forced institutions to improve their use of technology.
This is something that Miles Robinson, head of mortgages at the broker Trussle has written about today.
He believes e-document processes and e-signatures might become the norm after the virus passes, and owing to the advantage firms have with this in place already, it’s difficult to disagree.
It seems tech developments are now springing up all over the place. Last week a ‘social distancing video service’ for agents launched, while virtual valuation services are now all the rage.
Hopefully, like with the aftermath of the global financial crisis, institutions will be stronger once we’re out of the current malaise by using the latest and most helpful tools available.
Ryan Bembridge, Editor, PropertyWire
