Specialist lender London Credit has relaunched its Auction Finance product, allowing property investors to take advantage of auctions ahead of the stamp duty holiday.

The bridging lender said its product means an offer can be issued before the auction so that a potential buyer “has surety of funds should their bid be successful”.

The firm said these loans are available between £100,000 and £3.5m on properties in London, the South East and other major cities, with approval in principle and indicative terms usually available within an hour.

It lends up to 70 per cent loan to value on terms up to 18 months.

Stamp duty transactions in the last quarter of last year were 43 per cent higher than in the third quarter of 2020, according to HMRC data released last week.

The housing industry had a strong second half to last year after, chancellor Richi Sunak introduced the stamp duty holiday last July, following approvals that had almost ground to a halt last spring due to the pandemic.

London Credit credit manager Marios Theophanous says: “Buying a property at auction has become more popular as the move to online auctions as a result of Covid restrictions has actually opened up the market to more people.”

He adds: “And, of course, with completion usually required within 28 days, buying at auction remains one of the few ways that property investors could benefit from the stamp duty holiday. So, we wanted to create a product that gives investors what they need – surety of funds at the outset.”

London Credit said the main difference between the new Auction Finance product and the previous version, is that the ability to make an offer before the auction has been “formalised” into the product, rather than being used on an ad hoc basis.