Brickflow sees £520 million in offers as searches fall

Brickflow's Q2 2026 MarketWatch report shows more than £520 million in loan offers across specialist property finance, alongside diverging trends between search activity and Decisions in Principle on the platform.

The figures cover bridging finance, commercial mortgages and development finance. Across all three, search activity fell quarter on quarter, while Decisions in Principle rose in two categories and lender appetite increased sharply for some land-backed lending.

Development finance represented the largest share of activity by search value, accounting for 61% of total Q2 search value, or £8.5 billion. By that measure, it was the biggest product area on the platform.

Loan offer volumes were split fairly evenly between development finance and bridging, with commercial mortgages contributing a smaller share. Bridging finance generated £258.9 million in loan offers, development finance £236.5 million and commercial mortgages £24.6 million.

Searches fall

Search activity declined across all three products in the quarter. Bridging searches fell 13.6%, commercial mortgage searches dropped 22.1% and development finance searches were down 8.3%, all compared with the previous quarter.

Even so, borrower progression moved in the opposite direction in parts of the market. Requests for Decisions in Principle rose 6% in bridging and 12% in commercial mortgages, suggesting brokers and borrowers were moving further through the funding process despite lower search volumes.

The drop in bridging search activity reflected broader market conditions. Industry data from the Bridging & Development Lenders Association shows bridging applications across the sector fell 15% to £9.9 billion in the first quarter of 2026.

Land lending

One of the sharpest changes in the quarter came in land finance. The number of bridging lenders willing to lend against land with detailed planning rose 61% between Q4 2025 and Q2 2026, making it the fastest-growing segment on the platform.

The increase points to a shift in lender risk appetite in a part of the market that has often been more constrained. Brickflow linked the change to planning reforms introduced last year, which it said continue to influence lender behaviour.

The platform also expanded its lender panel during the quarter, with HBI Capital, Pallas Capital and Bridge Invest joining. That added to the range of bridging and development finance options available through the marketplace.

Brickflow is a UK-based digital platform for commercial property finance. It connects brokers and borrowers with rates and lending criteria from more than 150 specialist lenders.

Broker behaviour

The Q2 figures suggest that fewer initial searches do not necessarily mean weaker transactional intent. In both bridging and commercial mortgages, the rise in Decisions in Principle indicates that some borrowers entering the process may have a clearer sense of funding requirements and a higher likelihood of progressing.

That matters in specialist property finance, where the gap between an early search and a formal credit decision can be shaped by lender criteria, deal complexity and broader rate expectations. Rising willingness to support detailed-planning land deals also suggests parts of the market may be opening up even as headline activity cools.

For brokers, those shifts can change how demand is assessed across products. Development finance remained the dominant area by search value, but bridging produced the highest loan offer total in the quarter, underlining how search value and lending output can point to different patterns of activity.

"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. 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. 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," said Sabinder Robinson-Sandhu, Head of Growth at Brickflow.