Of those surveyed, 60% said growth was faster than expected between July and December last year while lenders which agreed with the statement totalled 86%.
As a result, 90% of brokers felt market conditions were currently improving compared with 37% in January 2013.
Lenders remained unanimous that the market was improving, as was the case in July.
But 71% of lenders and 74% of brokers said this upward trend will not require the government to intervene during 2014 to cool the pace of growth.
Confidence was boosted by brokers’ increased ability to source mortgages.
In Q4 2012, 63% of brokers were unable to source a mortgage for a prime borrower but this year’s survey has seen that number fall to 26%.
And brokers unable to source mortgages for near-prime borrowers fell from 67% in Q4 2012 to 37% in the last quarter of 2013.
Peter Williams, executive director of IMLA, said: “It is easy to forget just how low expectations were this time last year with barely a third of brokers sensing an improvement in the mortgage market and a tiny minority placing any significance on it.
“A host of factors have contributed to a remarkable turnaround including better funding markets, government support, consumer confidence and the improving economy.”
Almost nine-in-ten brokers, 88%, reported that successful applications stayed the same or improved in the second half of 2013.
But despite wider availability of mortgages and greater volumes of lending more brokers were experiencing application failure as activity levels grew.
IMLA’s analysis suggested this trend showed lenders were keeping a close eye on affordability as applications rose and highlighted their commitment to staying focused on lending responsibly to those who can afford it.
The most common cause of declined applications was reported as being a failure to meet the lenders’ profile. This increased from 67% in July 2013 to 74% in January this year.
Growth of lending in the high loan-to-value bracket meant limited deposits dropped from being the third most common cause of failure to the fourth, with existing debt rising to takes its place.
Broker-lender relationships showed signs of improvement this year as 29% of the lenders surveyed said they had increased the number of brokers that worked with in the second half of 2013 while only 7% reduced their numbers.
More lenders reported a consistent quality of introduced business in the previous six months – 79% in January this year compared to 64% in July 2013. But those experiencing better quality fell from 29% to 21%.
For their part a growing number of brokers reported consistent service from lenders over the last six months: up from 45% in July 2013 to 50% in January 2014. Those who felt lenders’ service improved also crept up slightly from 11% to 12%.
Better systems for applications and more information on target profiles remained broker’s proprieties for lenders to address.
Demand for better systems grew from 25% to 34% of brokers with interest in more information on target profiles also rising from 23% to 27%.
Williams said: “Improving relations between lenders and brokers are a big plus as new regulations bring about new working relationships from April.
“Preparations are well underway to keep on serving the growing number of people interested in getting a mortgage.
“Their chances of doing so are vastly improved compared with this time last year but lenders are clearly focusing on affordability and are making sure those who get mortgages should be able to sustain repayments through the upturn in interest rates.”
