Tech City is five years old. It’s the fastest-growing technology cluster in the world. And its success points to a new type of client walking through your door. Are you ready?

Five years ago the Prime Minister and Boris Johnson announced a new initiative called Tech City to encourage the development of digital industries in east London. Back then there were around 250 technology companies in the area. Today there are more than 5,000, including the likes of Google, Cisco, Intel and Airbnb, while analysts from Oxford Economic suggest there may be as many as 40,000 firms across the capital.

The digital sector now accounts for almost 3.5% of the capital’s workforce, is worth £18bn and employs more than 200,000 people, according to Tech City. Forecasters say it is likely to outperform the wider economy for a decade and many have tipped London to overtake Silicon Valley as the world’s leading tech centre.

But what does this mean for mortgages?

According to the Tech Cities Job Watch Report by IT recruitment company Experis, 14% of technology roles advertised in London were for contract roles in the final quarter of last year. And the demand for skilled labour is not confined to the capital as more than a quarter of roles advertised were in tech hubs like Manchester, Brighton, Bristol, Cambridge, Edinburgh and Glasgow.

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If the growth of the digital industry continues – and it would be a brave man to bet against this – then it is very likely that we will see a greater proportion of our population working on a contract basis. And this is before you start to consider the financial position of all of those entrepreneurs who are starting successful tech firms.

As an industry, we are therefore likely to see an even greater shift towards individuals with complex incomes who will be looking to secure finance for a new home or remortgage. This puts greater emphasis on lenders being able to underwrite applications on an individual basis to ensure they are able to properly consider that customer’s circumstances and affordability – and it could provide you with an opportunity.

Public perception is still that access to mortgages remains difficult, particularly for customers whose circumstances fall anywhere outside of the norm.  If you are able to start to help one or two individuals in this group to find a mortgage and begin to build a reputation within the digital sector.

Then you could find that this growing industry provides a healthy flow of new clients through your door.

Alex Hammond is head of marketing and communications at Kensington

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