September Outcome of the First Rate Cut in 9 Months
Last month, the Fed cut interest rates for the first time in nine months. That coincided with some of the lowest rates we’ve seen for bridge, DSCR, and benchmark indices in nearly a year. September also brought another record month for DSCR loan transactions, even as bridge loan activity continued its gradual decline. DSCR lending […]
August 2025 Lending Trends: DSCR Growth Continues, Bridge Loans Plateau
A bridge loan is any loan with a duration of 36 months or less utilizing interest-only payments for the duration of the term and containing a balloon payment at the end of the loan. Bridge loans are commonly referred to as residential transition loans (RTL), fix-and-flip, non-owner occupied, hard money, or in other terms that describe a short-term loan generally secured by a residential property for investment purposes.
Private Lending Sustains Growth Through July
A bridge loan is any loan with a duration of 36 months or less utilizing interest-only payments for the duration of the term and containing a balloon payment at the end of the loan. Bridge loans are commonly referred to as residential transition loans (RTL), fix-and-flip, non-owner occupied, hard money, or in other terms that describe a short-term loan generally secured by a residential property for investment purposes.
Mid-Year Check-In: What the First Half of 2025 Tells Us About Private Lending
It feels like just yesterday I was recapping trends from 2024 and now here we are already halfway through 2025. As I noted in our 2024 recap, bridge loan volume grew steadily throughout the year, while DSCR loan volume increased exponentially. That trend hasn’t slowed. In fact, this month DSCR volume was up 129% year-over-year, […]
Market Stability and DSCR Momentum Define May 2025 Trends
If you’re getting tired of hearing me talk about DSCR loans, I’ve got some bad news. This month’s data makes it impossible to ignore what’s happening in the market. In May, Lightning Docs users generated 2,757 DSCR loan documents. That’s nearly 200 more than the number of bridge loan documents in the same period. To […]
74% Growth Amid Market Uncertainty: April 2025 Bridge and DSCR Lending Trends
April wasn’t a typical month. Looming tariffs raised questions about how the broader economy would respond, and early in the month, when the reciprocal tariff strategy was announced, the stock market reacted with sharp volatility. More relevant to private lending was what followed in the bond market. As bond prices rose by nearly 50 bps […]
Loan Volume Reaches Record High in Q1 2025
Q1 2025 Executive Summary Lightning Docs is a B2B SaaS platform founded by the partners at Fortra Law, the nation’s largest private lending law firm. The platform was originally designed to streamline the law firm’s drafting of business purpose mortgage loan documents and is now used by more than 50% of the top 50 private […]
Private Lending Trends for February 2025: Bridge Loan Volumes Hit Record Highs
February is always a unique month for private lending. With fewer business days and the typical early-year slowdown, it often trends below its neighboring months. While the shorter calendar still played a role, February 2025 defied seasonal expectations once again, with strong loan volumes, rising average loan amounts, and stable interest rates across bridge and […]
January 2025 Private Lending Market Recap
January has come and gone, and we’re still waiting for the cyclical slowdown that typically defines the start of the year for private lending. From 2022 to 2024, January was either the lowest or second-lowest month in volume. This year, however, January 2025 became our highest-volume month to date. We’ll break down the key metrics […]
Private Lending Market Trends: December 2024 Recap
With the new year comes the excitement to start strong and make meaningful progress toward our ambitions. But before diving in, it’s worth taking a moment to reflect on the trends that closed out 2024. December’s data offers a clear view of where the private lending market stands and how these patterns can inform strategies […]