Therefore it’s no surprise that business is on the up and that the intermediary community has access to a growing proportion of products – 71% for those who are counting.
In addition to strong, attention grabbing headlines on intermediaries’ growing market share, data published by IRESS and Mortgage Advice Bureau (MAB) also contains some other important nuggets of information. The IRESS Mortgage Efficiency Survey 2015 uncovered that the percentage of cases going to offer in 10 days or less has increased by 4% year-on-year to 26.5% while offers in 14 days are almost level at 43%. This, quite rightly, was highlighted as ‘an area all lenders can look to improve on – and technology will help with that’.
The additional layer of complexity added by the Mortgage Market Review is certainly one reason for this and many lenders, Barclays included, are working around the clock to improve technological offerings to help make the application process as simple and effective as possible for brokers. This extra complexity has also helped stimulate the growth of general intermediary business levels, as emphasised by MAB head of lending Brian Murphy – ‘There has been a seismic shift over the last year as brokers have become an even bigger gateway for customers hoping to secure a mortgage’.
This ‘gateway’ will continue to be aided by increased competition among lenders, especially as we approach the year-end and this could potentially become even keener if targets have not yet been met. All of which bodes well for more positive data and subsequent headlines to emerge over the next few months and beyond.
