"Addressing the financial needs of consumers and helping to drive growth in the local economy is an important consideration for all building societies"
The mortgage market has changed significantly over the past few years, with market volatility, interest rate uncertainty and global and domestic political upheaval creating an unstable operating environment for lenders, borrowers and brokers alike.
Finding ways to adapt to this new normal has been crucial for survival, particularly with transactions down 30% as borrowers struggle to meet lender affordability requirements while the housing market continues to slow.
Seeking out new and viable business opportunities in an increasingly complex market can be challenging, particularly after such a prolonged period of historically low interest rates and very little market fluctuation. It’s fair to say that brokers are now having to work harder than ever to navigate market obstacles and find suitable alternatives for their clients as a growing number of typically vanilla mortgage borrowers find themselves with reduced borrowing capacity and fewer lenders to choose from.
It was these market forces that led to the creation of the first regional Leicestershire Lenders Live broker event in November. This saw five Leicestershire-based building societies come together to provide a forum for local brokers to learn more about the business opportunities available in the local area.
The Loughborough Building Society, Hinckley & Rugby Building Society, Melton Building Society, Earl Shilton Building Society and Market Harborough Building Society all presented at the event to help demonstrate the significance of building societies in the local community both individually and as a collective. The hugely positive feedback we’ve received from the 75 attendees has blown us away and really demonstrated the appetite for such an event.
Building societies are providers of financial services that offer an often personalised and tailored service to help address a range of borrowing needs. While each lender has an individual approach, there is also a common goal in terms of providing specialist lending solutions that can make a real difference in what remains a challenging economic environment. The extensive experience and knowledge of many building society BDMs also means they are well adept at finding product solutions that are not often readily available in the mainstream market.
For example, products such as Joint Borrower Sole Proprietor (JBSP), Buy for Uni and other Family Assist offerings – which draw on income multiples or use a family home as collateral to help increase borrowing potential - have been specifically designed to help first-time buyers, or other borrowers in need of financial assistance, to get onto the property ladder.
Not only does this approach help many borrowers secure the finance they need to help them buy a home, but it also means that brokers can grow their business by having access to solutions which meet a range of new and existing client requirements throughout their borrowing lifecycle.
With many different lending approaches available and a keen appetite to lend, the personal approach of many building societies means that we are constantly collaborating with our intermediary partners to better understand the needs and circumstances of each client. A flexible, manual underwriting approach also allows us to adjust criteria and policy to enhance the appeal of products as dictated by market forces, and we have to ability to individually assess each application to determine their mortgage requirements. All in a responsible manner and in line with balancing our risk exposure and our lending structure.
After all, as key players in the local community, addressing the financial needs of consumers and helping to drive growth in the local economy is an important consideration for all building societies, whether individually or when working as a collective.
