Overall secured loan lending in 2012 currently stands at £327.1 million, the highest level since 2009, where overall it stood at £566 million, according to Loans Warehouse’s latest Secured Loan Index.
Last month, second charge lending rose to £34.3 million, a 7.5% increase on the £31.9 million lent in October and a 22.5% increase year-on-year.
November is the fifth consecutive month where lending has been over the £30 million level.
“Shawbrook [Bank] announcing its new strategy to attract more sophisticated individuals to the market unsurprisingly had an impact on November’s figures,” said Matt Tristram, joint managing director of Loans Warehouse.
“We’ve definitely seen an increase in enquiries from high net worth borrowers over the past few months and in attracting these individuals provides evidence the secured loan sector is definitely maturing.
“Not only that but the lending levels the Index has highlighted so far clearly demonstrates how much the second charge market has stablised. We have had uninterrupted levels of over £30 million for five straight months now and demand for secured loans has remained relatively consistent. The key to recovery is a stable market and compared to the irregular 2011, I think it’s reasonable to say that the market is in excellent health.
“Over these last few months, awareness of secured loans has increased substantially, especially among brokers. This was a key challenge when we first launched the Index and so it is encouraging that more mortgage networks are ensuring they’ve a secured loan offering through a master broker.”
Tristram added: “Secured loan awareness has certainly grown but it is clear that there is still a lot more to do. Raising general awareness among brokers is all well and good but brokers need to fully understand the benefits of secured loans first so that they can deliver well-informed advice to their clients.”