But intermediary confidence in the business outlook for their own firms remained stable
Average intermediary case volumes decreased slightly to 93 in the third quarter of this year from 97 in the previous quarter.
That’s according to the latest data from the Mortgage Market Tracker by the Intermediary Mortgage Lenders Association (IMLA).
Despite this slight dip in volume, the Bank of England reported nearly £85 billion in gross lending on all mortgages in Q3 – the highest number seen since Q2 2021, when it was aided by the Stamp Duty holiday. IMLA said this is likely due in part to house price increases.
The average number of decisions in principle (DIPs) that intermediaries processed remained stable in Q3 2022, decreasing marginally to 27, from 28 in Q2. Despite this, levels picked up in September with 28 per intermediary, compared to the beginning of the quarter in July with 26 per intermediary.
Conversion rates from DIP to completion fell for the fourth successive quarter in Q3 to 38%, from 44% in Q2.
The lenders’ association said that confidence among intermediaries in the outlook for the mortgage industry fell noticeably, with its research revealing that only 81% of intermediaries were confident overall in Q3, falling from 89% in Q2.
Read more: How confident is the property market?
However, intermediary confidence in the business outlook for their own firms remained stable, with 51% stating that they were ‘very confident’, down very slightly from 52% in Q2. There was a similar pattern for confidence in the outlook for the intermediary sector, with 91% of intermediaries confident overall, down from 93% in Q2.
“It’s good to see that intermediaries are very confident in the business outlook of their own firms,” Kate Davies (pictured), IMLA executive director, remarked. “It’s clear from our data this quarter that advisers are still very busy, with many saying that their overall workloads have increased.
“This is hardly surprising – the cumulative effects of the cost-of-living crisis, high inflation, and higher interest and mortgage rates are creating increasingly complex circumstances for borrowers. This in turn makes the role of professional mortgage advisers more important than ever.”
