Brickflow sees record Q1 performance

It said there was a rise in loan searches, decision in principle (DIP) requests, and the use of its platform. 

Loan searches over Q1 were 50% up on the whole of last year, totalling 2,966 queries. 

Some 1,084 loan searches were also conducted within 31 days in March, which was a new high for the platform. 

There were also 784 DIP requests submitted by more than 190 broker firms, which was another record high. 

During Q1, the platform also saw its fastest DIP to date, with a decision returned in seven minutes. 

Additionally, Brickflow expanded its lender panel by a tenth with the addition of 11 lenders and obtained its first exclusive rate for bridging finance with Hana Capital. 

Ian Humphreys (pictured), CEO and founder of Brickflow, said this was driven by a change in market behaviour.

Humphreys said: “The commercial real estate market is evolving, and intermediaries, borrowers and even lenders are now realising that utilising technology to secure deals is key to staying competitive.

“Both adoption and usage are increasing as the market moves away from the archaic manual process for securing funding to a new default behaviour, leveraging Brickflow to facilitate increased efficiency, connectivity and communication.” 

Largest loan completion to date 

Brickflow also completed its largest ever loan during the period. 

This was a development finance deal worth £16.85m, completed by Purple Pepper Homes for a development of 103 flats in Hastings. The developer used Brickflow to apply for the loan with their intermediary. 

The deal took a few days to complete, which Pierre Lombaard, managing director of Brickflow, said was quicker than the usual weeks it took to process an application. 

He said: “The funding requirement was a complex one, and it’s unlikely we would have been successful had we approached funders directly. We saved weeks of time by comparing lending options on the Brickflow platform, and we were able to structure our development funding with our exit strategy of partial long-term retention in mind.

“This and the ability to create a comprehensive online project appraisal gave the funders more confidence in our scheme and its ultimate success.” 

Humphreys added: “Whilst we have had bigger loans agreed on the platform, this is the biggest loan that has successfully completed, demonstrating that even higher-calibre developers struggle to find the best finance options in an opaque market.

“Our technology was instrumental in getting this scheme successfully funded.”