Following a long period where mortgage intermediaries have not had access to the best products and have faced a considerable contraction in the market, mortgage brokers now appear more confident. In what can only be good news for conveyancers Paragon Mortgages’ Financial Adviser Confidence Tracker (“FACT”) survey has revealed that mortgage brokers are confident about their market Financial advisers are forecasting a 7.2% quarter-on-quarter increase in mortgage business during the third quarter of 2010,
According to Paragon, a panel-based survey of mortgage brokers have predicted a growing intermediary market for six consecutive quarters. Nearly a quarter of brokers (24%) expect to handle over 10% more mortgage business in the third quarter than they did in the second, with over a third (34%) forecasting up to 10% growth in mortgage business.
Overall, 58% of respondents to FACT forecast that mortgage activity levels will increase during the period, compared to 3% who expect a fall. Nearly four out of 10 brokers (39%) believe that mortgage activity will remain static.
The forecast increase in mortgage business is nearly matched by the proportion of financial advisers who said they would increase staffing levels during the third quarter. FACT showed that 7% of advisers plan to increase staffing levels during the period, compared to 2% who plan to reduce employee numbers. The remaining 91% don’t plan to either reduce or increase staff levels.
Today’s Conveyancer has noticed that many conveyancers are also starting to recruit again and therefore we are offering conveyancers the ability to advertise for recruits on our site at no cost.
John Heron, Paragon Mortgages’ Managing Director, says:
‘There is no clear pattern emerging from the lending data published by the various bodies, but mortgage brokers appear to be confident about the short-term future of the mortgage market, which is a positive sign as they are the ones on the ground talking to borrowers. The third quarter is always a strange period in the mortgage calendar because it contains strong seasonal anomalies – August is traditionally a very quiet month but September bounces back as people return from holiday with plans to either buy or sell.’
On remortgage products many mortgage brokers use the cash back options on lender mortgage products to instruct conveyancers of their choice rather than use the “fees free” paid service that many lenders offer so it looks as if it is worth dusting off any mortgage broker relationships that you might have that have not been as well maintained in the recent years as maybe you would have liked.
