RAMP admitted these figures are surprising given that new data from the Council of Mortgage Lenders (CML) showed overall gross mortgage lending coming in at £17.9 billion for January when set against the £21.8 billion of last January.
John Rice, managing director of RAMP, commented: “I have been predicting for some time that there would be a flight to quality as well as a general consolidation and these completion figures tend to bear this out. The fact is that brokers both directly authorised and those tied to network partners of our members are realising the benefits of dealing with a group which has the products, service and stability to deliver in good times and bad.”
Most of the January completions were from applications submitted after ‘Mortgage Day’ and Rice sees this as particularly significant. “Here is clear evidence that RAMP members who embraced regulation from the beginning are going from strength to strength in the new environment,” he said.
Vic Jannels, group managing director of All Types of Mortgages (AToM), a member of the Professional Mortgage Packagers Associates (PMPA), agreed that packager business volumes were higher than most would have expected amid the ‘doom and gloom’ forecasts surrounding the future of packagers.
He said: “New business numbers are strong. Introducers are generally satisfied and our overall expectation for the future is that it will be exciting. We have invested substantially in the freehold of a new building and we are actively seeking new staff for our business development area.”
