The second quarter study (April to June 2005), conducted by Coussins Associates, showed that 58 per cent of the panellists questioned felt positive and optimistic about the current homebuyer market.
Mike Fitzgerald, sales director at Brentchase Financial
Services, was pleased with the upturn in business activity over the past quarter. He said: “We saw a small but welcome increase. I think peoples’ confidence returned a little bit when they realised that interest rates would be going down.”
There was also optimism from brokers that business levels would continue to rise in the next 12 months, with 72 per cent of participants in the survey expecting increased custom – the highest percentage since December 2003.
However, despite agreeing with the findings, Steve Brockman, director of A2B Mortgage Company Ltd, expressed his concerns about the strength of the market. “Although we are expecting an increase in business over the next year a lot depends on the amount of debt that people are now carrying,” he said.
“Until unsecured debt is tackled, business may suffer. In a number of recent cases we have been unable to assist because of the levels of client debt but they have gone on to get unsecured loans without any trouble. Until this is sorted out we can’t be entirely sure about business volumes,” he added.
Broker choice was also a key factor in the survey and customer care scored highly. With Treating Customers Fairly a constant concern, customer service was found to be key in influencing the decision of which mortgage provider to use.
44 per cent gave this as the main reason behind the selection of their provider, up 11 per cent from the first quarter of 2005.
