Specialist market is standing on the cusp of something great – Pinnington

First, former Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) mortgage manager Lynda Blackwell called upon specialist lenders to rise to the challenge of catering to non-standard borrowers – a term that is surely becoming more obsolete in today’s market.

And then the regulator itself issued its interim report into the mortgage market and effectively said the same thing, that challenger and specialist lenders can cater to “those consumers with less common circumstances.”

The regulator went on to say it would like to see work done in terms of “removing barriers to innovation in the sale of mortgages, including those due to aspects of FCA advice rules and guidance”.

Time to shine

As we all know, real innovation tends to be the domain of specialist lenders.

They often have the flexibility and bespoke approach required to offer truly versatile products – the likes of which are best placed to cater to those borrowers who fall outside of the vanilla, prime, standard category.

As such, I think the specialist market currently stands on the cusp of something great.

This is the market’s time to shine and a whole host of factors are coming together to support this.

The development finance sector is more buoyant than ever as the drive to build houses continues and talks of another self-build revolution gathers pace.

The commercial market is continuing to grow as landlords look outside of the residential sector for their investments.

Bridging is grabbing all the headlines, offering fast and effective solutions in a whole host of scenarios.

Everything is pointing towards a period of growth in the specialist market and brokers would be foolish to miss out on the opportunities this presents.