The majority (45%) of respondents said they expected to see higher levels of business, with 25% saying current levels had reached the new norm and it would not get busier. A further 30% predicted business volumes would subside.
In March, mortgage brokers experienced the highest level of sales volumes in eight years, research by Equifax Touchstone found.
Edinburgh Mortgage Advice broker Mark Dyason, said since the firm set up during the recession, it had gone from employing its second member of staff two years ago, to hiring its tenth employee in April.
“We’ve seen an uptick in the residential purchase market including house prices becoming the best they’ve ever been for business in Edinburgh,” he said.
“We’re looking at a steady climb because the market is only at just over £200bn, I think we’re only back to the natural level for the market. It may be a bit disjointed with London more overheated in terms of activity and other places less so, but I don’t think we’re running hot in many areas. And once the purchase market falls back a bit as rates rise, then the remortgage market will fill that gap for gross lending.”
‘No sign of stopping’
Network First Complete released its Q1 results this week, recording a 22% climb in mortgage completions compared to the same time last year.
Toni Smith, sales operations director of First Complete, said while the second half of 2014 was more subdued than the first half, MMR had “minimal impact” on the network and its brokers.
“First Complete had introduced most of the measures required by the MMR to its brokers several months beforehand and conducted refresher training with all brokers in the weeks leading up to April, so there was almost no drop in volume as a result. Consequently, despite the MMR, First Complete brokers did 69% more mortgage business in 2014 than they did in 2013 and almost every broker in the network is reporting that they are now the busiest they have ever been with many taking on new staff to cope with the increased demand for advice,” she said.
“This growing trend shows no sign of stopping. We keep setting new records and then exceeding them so I expect our business volumes and those of our brokers to continue to grow throughout the year, with the second half of 2015 being busier than the first half.”
