According to responses obtained for Paragon Bank’s Mortgage Intermediary Insight Report (MIIR), just three per cent of firms expect to reduce in size this year.
The survey of over 350 mortgage intermediaries found that 30 per cent of firms were in the process of recruiting experienced advisers while 19 per cent were hiring trainees. Over a fifth of firms were looking to enlist paraplanners to assist with administrative tasks.
Some 51 per cent of respondents said hiring experienced advisers was either fairly or very difficult, while challenges surrounding recruitment dropped to 34 per cent for those appointing trainees.
Almost a quarter of firms said they planned to train existing employees in the future to work around this and just over a third had already done so.
Additionally, a quarter of firms are looking to support their activity by investing in technology, while just under a quarter will focus on marketing.
Paragon: Intermediaries positive about the outlook
Paragon said the plans for expansion suggested that mortgage intermediaries were feeling positive about the market.
This was reflected in their responses as 85 per cent said they were either ‘very confident’ or ‘fairly confident’ about the future of their company, while two thirds felt the same optimism for the outlook of the sector.
Moray Hulme (pictured), director for mortgage sales at Paragon Bank, said: “It’s fantastic to see that intermediary firms are increasing their capacity by either recruiting or upskilling their existing employees in addition to investing in their marketing and technology.
“We know that businesses across all industries are anticipating some testing times as a result of the economic environment, so it’s encouraging to see that brokers remain optimistic, so much so that they are actively investing in their growth. I think that this confidence lies in the strong levels of mortgage lending that we have experienced which is, in turn, driven by continued tenant demand and highlights the resilience of the property sector.”
