According to figures from the Council of Mortgage Lenders, lending via intermediaries accounted for 66% of mortgage sales in terms of the total number of loans in the year and 65% by the value of those loans.
Intermediaries were also responsible for introducing 53% of all home mover loans, rising to 55% by value, and 59% of remortgages, rising to 62% by value.
The Intermediary Mortgage Lenders Association (IMLA) has declared 2011 as the year the mortgage industry needs to regain its confidence. It has also stressed the importance of lenders and intermediaries working closely to achieve that.
Peter Williams, IMLA’s executive director, said: “In our ‘Working Together’ guide, published last year, we set up how lenders and brokers can work together on mortgage sales and administration. We will continue to remind them of the importance of this to provide consumers with help and support when searching for a suitable product.”
He added that despite 2010 being a difficult year because of mortgage supply, mortgage intermediaries dominated the market in terms of sales.
“We expect this channel to perform equally strongly this year, although it will remain a tight year for the first-time buyer market. I forecast that there will be around 200,000 to 300,000 first-time buyer sales by the end of 2011,” he added.
