Phil Rickards, head of BM Solutions, said the lender had gone into “operational meltdown” at the start of the pandemic, with social distancing for office workers, stalled valuations and changed roles for BDMs among the challenges faced.
He added that some of these hurdles remain, while “business is absolutely piling in” as the lender hasn’t “priced out to control volume”.
Rickards said: “Advisers on the whole have been really patient for us.”
Ying Tan, founder and chief executive at Dynamo agreed there have been enormous challenges for the market this year.
He said: “Every single time, whether it be the government or the wider environment, throwing a curve ball at us, we seem to negotiate it really well.”
In part, this is because the fundamentals of buy to let remain; investors can control risks, add value and generate greater returns than other alternatives, Tan explained.
He added: “We are a resilient bunch, we brush [challenges] off and move on, and we have seen a remarkably strong turnaround since lockdown.”
Fellow guest, Jane Simpson managing director at TBMC, said confidence in the short-term appears good with lots of positivity.
She highlighted there has been much more purchase business, as well as holiday lets, as a result of the pandemic.
Simpson added: “I think everybody really appreciates how much of an impact the private rental sector is going to have and how much it’s going to be needed the other side of [the pandemic].”
Tan and Rickards also both reported that the stamp duty holiday has helped drive purchase business in the buy-to-let sector.
The split at Dynamo between purchase and remortgage has changed to around 50/50 whereas before the pandemic it was around 20/80, Tan said.
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