According to the quarterly Broker Perception Barometer by Santander, which surveyed a range of 500 mortgage holders on attitudes towards brokers, 85% said they would use a broker again if buying a new property or changing mortgage provider.
Approximately 29% said the most important part of the broker service was saving money, 26% pointed to saving time and 19% placed value on their broker helping them navigate taxes and changing rates.
One in 10 said they turned to their broker for emotional support and 82% said their broker made them feel less stressed when the home buying process became complicated.
The majority – 70% – of those who bought, remortgaged or took out a product transfer in the last year said they saved money by going through a broker, with the average coming to £125 per month on their mortgage payments.
Those in the South East saw the highest saving by going through a broker, with an average of £155 saved on their monthly payments.
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Nearly two-thirds – 63% – said they rely on recommendations and referrals from real people when choosing a broker and just 5% find their broker using artificial intelligence (AI).
More than half – 52% – of borrowers said they would still choose to use a mortgage broker over AI for every stage of the home buying or remortgaging process.
‘Brokers add so much value’
Speaking to this publication, Graham Sellar, head of intermediary channels at Santander UK, said the most interesting thing was that customers who have used a broker said they have “added so much value and they will go back to that broker in the future”.
“I do think that sometimes brokers don’t always understand how much value they’re actually adding. So, for me, the thing… that jumped out is they help navigate the process. And it will help the customer save time. Those things are sort of well played out.
“But the bit for me about the emotional support, when you are buying a house, it is a really stressful thing, and the broker is actually there to support the customer in more than just one way,” he explained.
Regarding the average saving of £125 in mortgage payments, he said that figure was very important as it showed that broker fees would be quickly offset by the amount you save in a better deal.
“The amount of money you can actually save by using someone who’s professional and understands the whole market pays for… that cost very quickly, and then you’ve got someone on your side if rates are reducing during the cycle, because often a product transfer can take… four months or a purchase can [take] six months. If the rates reduce, customers with a broker often find those lower rates, whereas with doing it on your own with AI or whatever, you probably don’t do [that],” he noted.
Another standout was that customers would like a broker at every stage rather than AI, which shows that a “broker is still seen… as someone [who] is better than a computer”.
“Brokers add so much value. I think what research says to me is [in] that the future… of home buying, yes, technology will help and may change some of the things that we do, but by no means does it mean that the brokers won’t be central to that for the foreseeable future,” Sellar said.
Santander will not retract its broker pledges
Sellar said Santander didn’t plan to retract any of the broker pledges that it made earlier this year.
These included no dual pricing on its products, a minimum of 24 hours’ notice for withdrawing products, and the development of a “transparent and improved product transfer process”.
“The no dual pricing is, for us, the most important message, because you’ve got regulation out there around advice from the FCA and you’ve got lots of AI talk here, and we’re very keen to keep that no dual pricing pledge going into next year,” he said.
Sellar noted that the minimum notice period for product withdrawals was also vital, even if rates were going down, and would be even more so when rates went up.
On the product transfer side, the lender recently improved its process to allow brokers to accept such deals on customers’ behalf and added product transfer rates to its sourcing systems. It also improved the visibility of client mortgage details.
“We’ve made it much better for brokers… but there’s still work to be done there. We’ll continue working with brokers with their product transfers, because there’s no dual pricing on product transfers as well. We’re very keen for the brokers to transact if the customer wants to transact,” he said.
Sellar added that it had gone “back to market” in December to ask brokers “what would you want us to do for 2026?”
“When we get their wish list, we’ll work that wish list through to see what we can do,” he said.
Biggest opportunity for 2026 is ‘educating customers’ about affordability
Sellar said that looking forward to 2026, the “biggest opportunity is educating customers that they can afford to buy a property”.
He explained that affordability has started to “improve massively” in 2025, pointing to improvements in stress testing and loan-to-income (LTI) ratios, as well as more low-deposit mortgages and lower pay rates.
“If you take all of those bits together, people can borrow more money, people can get a lower rate, and people don’t need as big a deposit in certain scenarios. I think that it has improved a lot. House prices haven’t really gone up much this year and actually there’s probably a lot of people out there who could probably afford, or would do well, to buy a property rather than perhaps stay in rented,” Sellar said.
“If I am talking to a broker now, collectively, we’ve got to make sure that customers know the world is probably a little bit better now. Buying now is probably a good thing or a good opportunity.
“I think brokers are well-positioned, because they’re often speaking to customers one year, two years before they make a purchase, and it will be: ‘Let’s work with the customers you’ve already worked with’. Go back to them, see how much that your customers can borrow, help them navigate the process,” he said.
Sellar said brokers were also “well-placed” to help people with product transfers and remortgages, especially those who fixed after the mini Budget and are coming off higher rates.
The growing professionalisation of the market means many landlords cannot do it themselves, so “they need brokers to hold their hand and work through the sort of the processes to make sure they don’t get hit with more tax”.
“Brokers are well-placed to help the homebuyers, the remortgages, the product transfers, the buy to let, and educate the customers to know what they can afford to borrow. The future looks good, and if I’m a broker doing the right things, I think my business is probably in a good place,” he said.
