Commenting on the business’ own move to deploy technology in this market, Steve Barber (pictured), managing director at BFS, said: “Exploring and integrating new technology has always been an important part of our business and so we have found ourselves in the fortunate position of being fairly well prepared.
“The majority of our internal and external processes have already been shifted towards an online platform, including the onboarding of clients via NOVO, and so applying that to the auction market has been a fairly straight forward move.
“All documentation can be completed and submitted online including bank statements and ID which helps reduce the risk of cyber crime, utilising Zoom for any necessary face to face to face interviews.”
Although the COVID-19 crisis has taken a severe toll on many elements of the property industry, effective use of technology may be the way to capitalise on those pockets of strong performance.
Barber says: “The auction market appears to be fairly buoyant, in line with the wider property market.
“There will inadvertently be stock left from cancelled auctions as well as new lots coming to market and so we are seeing fairly bulky catalogues with strong potential.
“We are seeing a lot of enquiries across the board in terms of auction properties as well as general lending.
For BFS, the pandemic and resulting lockdown has been a storm to weather like any other crisis.
Barber said: “We have continued to operate as ‘normal’ during lockdown and are already making plans to bring staff back onboard to ensure we can deliver in line with what appears to be continually escalating demand.
“As with previous periods of economic uncertainty, we have retained a firm, service driven approach, weathering the storm in unchartered territory and supporting our customers with their development finance and bridging lending needs.”
