As the mortgage market continues on its road to recovery, new and innovative lenders and products are inevitably grabbing their share of the market.
Sub Prime and specialist lenders have had to re-invent themselves over the last few years since the worldwide turndown, and they are now experiencing a new chapter and this in turn is making the choice of lender and product a pleasant challenge.
Two current lenders enjoying an upsurge are Bluestone and Precise
As a new specialist lender, Bluestone Mortgages, has recently launched a pilot range exclusively through Legal & General Mortgage Club and Tenet Group.
Its products are aimed at the self-employed, contractors and customers with adverse credit history.
Bluestone Mortgages Managing Director Matt Andrews says: “There is currently a significant portion of the UK population unable to secure a mortgage, held back due to their employment status or because they suffered a bump in the road that has impacted their credit profile.
“At Bluestone, we want to help close this gap in the market by providing affordable mortgage solutions that take into account an applicant’s full history and personal circumstances, looking at the person not the credit score points assessed by typical lenders. By working closely with the advisers and gaining constant feedback throughout the application process, we are confident of developing a strong market position.”
Precise Mortgages expects to increase lending by around 114 per cent this year.
The specialist lender, which operates solely through brokers, says it is on course to lend £1.5bn this year – up from around £700m last year.
Precise has lent £2.5bn to borrowers since launching in 2010 and attributes its recent lending growth to the performance of the intermediary sector, the recovery of the securitisation market, growth in its core lending markets, a stable economy and improving housing equity positions.
Buy-to-let makes up around 62 per cent of its lending with the remaining 38 per cent from residential lending.
With long time established specialist lender Kensington Mortgages reportedly in advanced talks to buy a £2.5bn mortgage book off GE Money Home Lending, they are also experiencing an upturn in fortunes, and rumours of a new lending arm are being mentioned.
