In its Product Sales Data trend report 2005-2012, the regulator said that mortgage sales for intermediaries expanded by 8% in 2011/12 compared to the last fiscal year, while direct sales remained broadly unchanged.
The proportion of advised sales continued to increase in 2011/12. Ninety-eight per cent of sales in Q1 2012 were advised via intermediaries, compared to 48% for firms selling directly to customers.
“Since intermediaries are more likely to provide advice, we would expect an increase in the number of advised mortgage sales in the year,” said the FSA.
Non-advised sales will be banned under proposals in the final FSA Mortgage Market Review (MMR) paper MMR CP11/31, with all mortgage sellers required to be CeMap qualified to give advice.
Prior to the crisis, most mortgage sales were made via intermediaries, and as many as 64% were made in Q1 2008. This changed in the second half of 2008, when the proportion started to decline. Since then the rate has moved between 56% and 46%.
Meanwhile, the FSA said the top five mortgage providers; Lloyds Banking Group, Santander, Nationwide Building Society, Barclays and the Royal Bank of Scotland accounted for 64% of all sales by volume. The top 10 mortgage providers accounted for 86% of the market, while the top twenty accounted for 94%.
“There has been an increase in market concentration among the top five and ten market providers with respect to last year. However, the market share remained fairly stable for the top twenty provider firms,” said the FSA.
