Go Bokke!

Mark Posniak - 29 November 2010

So, after the comprehensive outmuscling, outthinking and outpacing of the men in gold a fortnight ago, England, the papers said, were set to record their third win of the Autumn 2010 internationals against Peter de Villiers' Bokke, who were missing a few key players.

But the Springboks clearly didn't read the papers and instead turned up and did a job on Moody and his mates with some good old-fashioned Springbok muscle and grit. As a South African myself, and lucky enough to be at 'HQ' on Saturday, this more than made up for the miserable defeat against the Scots last week.

Over the past year or so, our odds of holding onto the Webb Ellis Cup have slowly been lengthening. Saturday's convincing victory will have shortened the odds right back. I'll certainly be having a punt myself next year, especially given how shaky New Zealand looked against Wales on Saturday night. If there's one team that can't react well to pressure, it's the Men in Black. And there will be a lot of pressure in their own back yard.

Meanwhile, at Drawbridge we have pulled off a victory of our own. Last week, the Association of Bridging Professionals (AOBP) issued its first market report - for October - in which we recorded the highest number of cases completed. Lucy Barratt, AOBP Executive Committee member and Director of W&B Mortgages, said: "Drawbridge Finance, in particular, is known for lending aggressively, which can only be a positive thing for the current market. It's very encouraging to see new lenders so active in the market, with appetites to lend and substantial funds behind them."

Lucy hit the nail on the head when she talked about our appetite to lend. That we have in abundance - and good job, really, given the strength of demand. The bridging loans market, in our experience at least, is busier than ever right now. A lot of contrarian investors are making their move, knowing that they hold all the cards in current market conditions. It's quite a contrast with the almost comatose owner-occupier market. 

Looking forward, December is always going to be a bit quieter, as we all tuck into our turkey, but we expect activity levels to pick up sharply from mid-January onwards and to be strong throughout 2011. 2010 has been a great year for Drawbridge finance but we expect 2011 to be even better.