‘Rising lender confidence’ behind second charge jump ‒ Loans Warehouse

The figure is an increase of more than 20 per cent from February’s figure, the new Loans Warehouse Secured Loans Index showed.

Matt Tristam, co-founder and director at Loans Warehouse, said that the jump from February was a “clear sign” that lenders are feeling confident for the first time since the mini-Budget last autumn.

He added: “This figure is just 6.49 per cent down year on year, and it was fair to say that when March 2022 figures were released the market was considered buoyant. Unsurprisingly figures for Q1 are also down, 15.85 per cent below the same period in Q1 2022.”

Loans Warehouse noted that March had seen a number of lenders, including Selina Finance and Spring Finance, dropping the rates on their second charge products.

In terms of completions, there was an 18 per cent increase in March compared with the month before, with a total of 2,809 deals crossing the line. The average time taken from submission to completion also improved marginally, dropping by 0.57 days to an average of 13.62.

The research also found that the level of high loan-to-value (LTV) lending improved in the month, up by two per cent. A little over 13 per cent of second charge lending is above 85 per cent LTV now.

It comes after data from the Finance & Leasing Association (FLA) showed that the number of second charge agreements in February was down by 10 per cent year on year.