Smaller unknown mutuals hitting established specialist lenders ‘out of the park’

Greg Cunnington (pictured), director of lender relationships and new homes at broker Alexander Hall, highlighted that many of these smaller lenders were often unknown but had made valuable contributions.

“The competition among lenders with how many are in this space and obviously see the opportunity is remarkable,” he said.

“They can do almost anything and that’s what surprised us most.

“Meeting all these lenders we were expecting one or two little unique selling points, but there’s so much out there in this space it’s unbelievable,” he added.

Unknown and under-appreciated

Cunnington pinpointed four mainstream lenders in particular that he felt were under-appreciated because they either did not have a high profile or did not use packagers – Leek United Building Society, Swansea Building Society, Market Harborough Building Society, and Bank and Clients.

“For clients’ terms and rates some of the more mainstream mortgage lenders that have the best terms,” he said.

“If you’re doing a regulated bridge, we’ve found Bank and Clients and Market Harborough BS are hitting anyone else out of the park on pricing, but because they don’t use packagers and not many intermediaries are in this space, that doesn’t seem to have been cottoned on to yet.

“Bank and Clients only use select intermediaries, but their products and propositions are really good, you just need to know they exist.

“And not many people think of Market Harborough as a bridging lender, but it’s probably the best terms on the market,” he added.

Really strong proposition

Cunnington also praised Leek United and Swansea building societies, noting that while the Welsh mutual’s operation was a bit more niche, it was “really strong with lots of semi-commercial agricultural ties”.

“It’s not so good for us because most of our clients are in the M25, but if it’s in Wales then their chief executive can go out and see the property,” he added.