Peer-to-peer lending and real estate mortgages: evidence from United Kingdom

Purpose This paper aims to collect data from a unique database provided by LendInvest and to study the key differences in the lending features for the two types of lending solutions. Findings Peer-to-peer (P2P) loans are prevalently short-term financing solutions (bridge financing), and the size of the loan is above average of the market. The loan portfolio is normally more geographically concentrated with respect to the average for the overall market and the main geographical areas for P2P lending are not just the main markets served by traditional lenders. Areas served by P2P lending have a lower population income than the national average and are characterized by below-average real estate price performance. Research/limitations/implications The results support the hypothesis of a complementary relation between conventional and P2P lending, showing that the latter represents a solution that is servicing areas that, because of the lower value of the collateral and lower average income, do not have easy access to the traditional mortgage market. Originality/value The paper is a first empirical contribution on the analysis of the market served by P2P real estate lending financing solution.