Bridging finance firm has record month
MINT Bridging, the short-term bridging lender, completed 21 loans on the final day of March – as property investors rushed to complete before the stamp duty levy on second homes came into force.
From April, those purchasing a property a second home or buy-to-let are now required to pay 3% more in stamp duty charges than residential buyers looking to purchase the same home. Chancellor George Osborne announced the change in the Autumn Statement last November, with the aim of helping more first time buyers get on to the market.
Altrincham-based Mint Bridging said the stampede to beat the March 31 deadline led to a record month for the firm – with 35 loans agreed in total for March, the largest of which was for £3.5m.
It was a fillip for the family run business’ loan book in the first quarter, which saw an 820% increase on the first quarter of 2015.
The company said that despite the special circumstances of this one-time boost, it expects the second quarter to deliver another huge increase in volumes and completions especially as the company has recently increased its maximum loan size to £5m.
Andrew Lazare, managing director, said: “We have an exceptional, hands on team all our hard work to aggressively grow has paid off.
“With only a handful of employees this time last year to a now 18 strong team, and additional recruits underway, I’m incredibly proud what we’ve achieved.
“Some of the completions were partly due to the new stamp duty changes coming into effect on April 1 and we have to work under some real pressure to get them completed on time whilst still allowing for our lending criteria to be met on all the loans.”
