This is the sixth consecutive quarter that brokers have predicted increased business levels. 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.
Some 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.
John Heron, Paragon Mortgages’ managing director, said: "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."
