Speaking at the Mortgage Advice Bureau Trailblazers conference last week, Smith (pictured) said L&G’s projections are positive beyond the £225bn it expects this year.
In a Mortgage Solutions poll four out of five of those surveyed agreed with the group’s projections, said Smith.
In terms of activity, he expects 2015 to flip last year’s performance, with a busier H2 after a slightly slower first six months.
Mortgage broker market share can only drive onwards he said from 65% in H2 2014 and could escalate to 70 to 75% in the foreseeable future.
On interest rates, Smith admitted: “I’m always baffled by Bank of England governor Mark Carney’s statements, ‘with their deliberate attempts not to lead the market’.
But he added the in-house L&G economists expected the first rise in Q4 2015, whereas the mortgage market consensus has many expecting the first rise to come in 2016.
Smith rounded off his presentation telling the room full of Mortgage Advice Bureau brokers to expect more of everything; from gross lending, products and new lenders as a far more competitive market returns.
