Requests for acquisition loans have risen sharply as investment in the UK regions soars, according to the latest Laxfield Capital Debt Barometer.
Purchase lending has risen from just 12% of the market in 2012, when many investors were seeking finance to deal with legacy loans, to 60.3% in the six months to the end of September.
The barometer also revealed that requests for finance in the UK regions outstripped requests in London by both volume and count for the first time this cycle.
Some 56% of requests by volume were for regional deals in the third quarter, according to Laxfield.
Demand for development loans also grew, with 30 requests, totalling £1.3bn of debt, reported by Laxfield over the six months.
Residential development accounted for 45.5% of the market, and mixed-use sites accounted for 23.3%. Demand was negligible for retail development loans.
In total, the market lent more than £11bn over the period across a total of 154 deals as activity picked up after the general election.
Gearing within all deals spiked in the second quarter of 2015, up to 63.5% on average, but settled to consistent levels over the full six months as average gearing for the third quarter dipped to 56.4%.
The average price of each loan increased over the six months to around 225bps over LIBOR for a weighted average loan at 65% LTV.
Loan terms remained static, however, with 82% of the market still seeking a five-year loan term.
Just 8.4% of requests for loans were for terms longer than seven years.
Financing requirements for alternative assets slipped slightly in the final quarter to 40% of all loans by volume.
