Lenders push further into overlooked market segments, says Brickflow

Demand for decisions in principle (DIPs) strengthened across most product lines, climbing 6% in bridging and 12% in commercial mortgages quarter-on-quarter. Development finance DIPs, by contrast, slipped 4.3%.

Bridging appetite shifts across asset classes

In bridging, lender appetite for land with detailed planning rose sharply, with the number willing to lend against the asset class up 61% between Q4 2025 and Q2 2026, making it the fastest growing category on the platform.

Even so, lenders offering funding for land with detailed planning accounted for just 32% of those active in pure residential bridging, giving it the lowest coverage of any asset class within Brickflow’s bridging product set.

Sabinder Robinson-Sandhu (pictured), head of growth at Brickflow, said: “This quarter’s numbers show real momentum building across the platform, particularly in how quickly brokers and borrowers are moving from search to a decision in principle.

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“We’re also seeing lenders move into parts of the market they’d previously overlooked, land with planning being the clearest example, which tells us appetite is broadening rather than narrowing.”

Loan progression gathers pace despite softer search volumes

Search activity cooled across all three products in Q2, down 13.6% in bridging, 22.1% in commercial mortgages and 8.3% in development finance.

The total value of searches also eased, falling to £13.9bn in Q2 from £18.4bn in Q1.

Development finance proved the most resilient segment, Brickflow said, posting the smallest decline in searches at 8.3% and accounting for 61% of total Q2 deal value, at £8.5bn.

Robinson-Sandhu added: “In a rate environment where nothing is guaranteed, that kind of granular, real-time data is exactly what brokers need to advise their clients with confidence.”