This article is an external press release originally published on the Landlord News website, which has now been migrated to the Just Landlords blog.
Bridging Lender Moves into Scotland
A bridging loans firm has expanded into Scotland and is searching for new underwriters and business development managers to help with its growth.
Hope Capital was launched in 2011, and is a privately operated and funded bridging company, currently run in England and Wales.
It has an initial fund of £10m for Scottish business, which will be “expanded and grown.” Hope Capital will lend on commercial and residential property with non-regulated loans of up to £1.5m for six months or less, with a maximum of 75% loan-to-value (LTV).
In the last year, Hope has more than doubled its loan book and expects to quadruple this again this year. It has also doubled its staff in the past 12 months and is hoping to do so again.
Chief Executive of Hope Capital, Jonathan Sealey, says: “The time is absolutely right for Hope Capital to expand into Scotland. With both the referendum and post election uncertainty out of the way, there is a lot of positive sentiment in Scotland at the moment; the number of property transactions is increasing and house prices are soaring.
“Since we started exploring the opportunity to operate in Scotland earlier in the year, we have already had a number of very interested parties looking to work with us.
“As we do in the rest of England and Wales, we are only looking to lend through the intermediary community; it is advisers that we have our relationships with and we are incredibly loyal to this sector.”1
