The network said it had benefited from increased activity from its advisory firms, particularly in the remortgage market – with 48% of its mortgage business being remortgage.
Around a fifth (17%) of its mortgage business was buy-to-let (BTL), and the group said it was recording levels “just below” its long-term average, with 78% of all BTL business being remortgage activity.
Overall, the figures show that:
- Mortgage completions for the nine months to the end of September 2017 were up 31% to £4.082bn. Mortgage applications totalled £5.607bn – a 32% year-on-year increase;
- Life application premium levels rose 32% to £12.76m, with £10.6m completed in the nine months to the end of September – a 23% rise year-on-year;
- General insurance applications were up 20% to £464,600, while general insurance premium levels rose 26% compared to the first three quarter of 2016 to £657,400.
Stonebridge said the growth was a result of a continuing increase in new appointed representative (AR) firms, and a general increase in productivity from its membership.
It also noted that the different growth between its mortgage and life volumes was due to advisers writing an increase proportion of the remortgage business.
Interesting year
“It’s particularly pleasing to announce another strong set of business application and completion figures for the nine-month period up to the end of quarter three this year,” said Richard Adams (pictured), managing director of Stonebridge Group and Stonebridge Genus.
“There’s no doubting 2017 has been a very interesting year,” he continued, “particularly in the mortgage market, and unsurprisingly it has been the remortgage sector that has underpinned much of our mortgage market growth.”
At the end of 2016, Stonebridge announced it had 500 active advisers spread across 226 firms on board. This figure has now grown to 538 advisers across 258 firms.
BTL holding-up
In addition, the group launched its Genus proposition for directly authorised (DA) firms, which is now being used by 230 advisers.
“Interestingly, for all the talk of a crisis in buy-to-let with the greater level of regulatory and political intervention in the sector, our buy-to-let mortgage business has held up very strongly,” Adams added.
“Again, much of this is fuelled by existing landlords seeking out remortgages as competition for business in this part of the market remains strong. It will be interesting to see how much growth we see in limited company buy-to-let, particularly for purchase, in the months ahead as this appears to be an area where there is an increase in demand and more lenders willing to offer such products.
“This looks unlikely to change anytime soon – indeed with this month’s increase in bank base rate (BBR) we fully anticipate many more existing borrowers seeking out quality advice to ensure they are not over-paying on their monthly mortgage payments, be that via tracker or SVR products.”
