Currently there are around 10,500 active mortgage advisers but Reynolds reckons the number could increase by anything up to 1,000 during 2013 as the post RDR market settles down.
He said: “With mortgage lending looking likely to increase next year we could also see a return of more competition within this sector.
“More competition means an increase in marketing and consumer awareness of the role of mortgage advisers and the benefits of taking advice. This can only be seen as a positive sign for our market.”
Reynolds said that although there had been plenty of comment over the last five years about the loss of advisers from the mortgage market he believed the trend would reverse in 2013.
He said: “The impact of the RDR will have an effect on the mortgage market indirectly even if the core regulation does not affect it.
“There will be firms, or advisers within firms, that will decide not to continue with their investment permissions in January 2013.
“However, rather than exiting the financial services industry, as has been predicted, it is now felt that these advisers will continue with their mortgage and protection permissions and become full time mortgage advisers.
“Those who have not achieved Level 4 Status before the implementation of the RDR may also choose to suspend their permissions on a temporary basis.”
