commercial mortgages

Recent research by Commercial First among nearly 400 mortgage/loan brokers and IFAs has revealed high consumer demand for commercial mortgages. The survey shows that 85% of intermediaries receive commercial mortgage enquiries, with 50% of firms receiving such enquiries going on to process the applications themselves, and only 10% turning the business away altogether. The remaining 40% refer commercial mortgage leads on to a specialist commercial mortgage partner. Even so, there is evidence of potential for considerable growth in the market. Of those businesses that process commercial mortgage applications themselves, commercial mortgages are core activity (more than half of business levels) for only 25% of these respondents. Within this group, 63% estimate that commercial mortgages represent less than 20% of their business.

Commercial First’s sales and marketing director, Stephen Johnson, said: “At present it is hardtodefine the size and scope of the UK commercial mortgage market, so our own research gives a valuable picture of the market as it stands now and it will provide a benchmark for any future market research. The survey findings support our view that demand for commercial mortgages via the intermediary market is widespread and set to grow fast. Intermediaries can offer product choice and service benefits to commercial mortgage borrowers that they could not hope to achieve by going direct to lenders. It is disappointing that 10% of brokers are ignoring enquiries about commercial mortgages and losing out on introduction fees. At Commercial First we have pioneered the partnering approach and we would be happy to help any brokers that are currently turning away commercial mortgage enquiries to find a specialist commercial partner to whom they can refer these leads and earn incremental fee income.”