55% of brokers believe an economic bounceback and the avoidance of high unemployment is most critical to their business success for the rest of 2021, according to United Trust Bank (UTB).

A further 22% of property and commercial finance brokers responding to United Trust Bank’s recent Broker Sentiment Survey believe that continued success of the Covid-19 vaccination programme is most important to their performance for the remainder of the year.

Other factors noted by brokers were continued support of the property market and SMEs by government, overcoming Brexit challenges and the ability to recruit high calibre staff.

88% of over 130 broker respondents declared that they were ready to respond to a ‘post-pandemic boom’ fueled by government spending and pent-up consumer demand. However, 6% of brokers indicated that they were still regrouping following the trials of Covid and the remaining 6% didn’t expect to see a post-pandemic boom anyway.

Mark Stokes, chief commercial officer at United Trust Bank, said: “Although the UK economy still has some way to go to regain its Covid-19 losses, it does at least appear to be growing and there’s certainly plenty of activity in the specialist finance market.

“UTB is experiencing record levels of enquiries and new business completions across all divisions of the bank including bridging, development, structured, mortgage and asset finance. Records are being broken and reset on a regular basis and like a majority of brokers, we believe we’re very well placed to respond positively to a post-pandemic boom.

“I’m delighted that UTB’s continued investment in technology and people is enabling us to support brokers as they assist property developers, investors, SMEs and individuals in seizing opportunities to recover and grow as we emerge from the tight grip of the pandemic.”