This is expected to come from increased demand for purchase and refinancing, requiring firms to get ready for the possibility of a busier period. 

So this month, Mortgage Solutions is asking: How are you or your firm preparing for a potential rise in business in H2? 

 

Adam Wells, mortgage adviser at Adam Wells Mortgages 

I’m already seeing an increase in business with a lot more confidence from my clients. With rates continuing to drop and a new government in power, my clients are pushing forward with new purchases and even some remortgages that were on hold until the base rate began to reduce.

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Where we are based, there are a lot of new-build homes being built, and this doesn’t look like it will be slowing down in the foreseeable future. 

First-time buyers continue to be a strong customer base for us, and with generous income multiples and falling rates, there is a lot of competition between buyers. 

There are a lot of clients who are within six months of their low fixed rates coming to an end and they want to wait until the last minute to get the best rates possible. 

Potentially, we could be looking to expand the team later on in the year, but this very much comes down to having sustained demand. The last thing we want to do is bring more team members on board and then not be able to feed them with new clients. 

We’re continuing to advertise in our niche areas, and we don’t think we’ve exploited 100% of the opportunities available to us. 

We’re not heavily on social media, as we’ve found this hasn’t worked for us in the past. Potentially, this is something we could look to explore next year.

With all of this in mind, we’re hoping for a very strong end to 2024 and we’re excited for the possibilities going into 2025. 

 

Rob Peters, principal of Simple Fast Mortgage

With more positive sentiment in the property market, driven by the Bank of England cutting interest rates, we are predicting a sprint finish to 2024 for the mortgage market. 

Throughout August, we’ve already seen a further increase to our busiest year yet, with year-on-year growth since our 2020 inception. Our business is split between clients who are interest rate-focused – primarily residential buyers – and those who see opportunities regardless of interest rates, such as property investors, developers and international clients.

This year, we’ve made significant staffing changes, and we are looking for another exceptional person to join us. We are also upgrading our internal systems with a focus on automating some of the more process-driven tasks. 

While the new government undoubtedly brings uncertainty to the property market, attitudes are generally positive and there is no sign of this changing in the short term. 

 

John Yerou, managing director of Freelancer Financials 

We’re working on some new partnerships and using this quiet period for housekeeping and developing new opportunities, improving our website, etc – working on all the things that will get us ready for an uptick in the mortgage market. 

However, the rise in business is still just a potential. 

It’s far too early to start celebrating. I still think commentators are getting ahead of themselves; it would be folly to start celebrating with markets exposed to so much volatility. 

Yes, I agree that for the first time in many quite gruelling months for mortgage brokers and borrowers, we’re seeing a downward mortgage rate trend that has seen home loan deals get more and more attractive. Of course, it’s great news that the Bank of England cut the base rate and also swap rates are trending downwards. 

Lenders are hoping/gambling that we see at least one further cut in the base rate, either next month or before the end of the year. But this is in no way guaranteed. The real question we should be asking ourselves is whether the financial markets can sustain these recent rate reductions by lenders. In my opinion, many lenders have been reducing their rates (effectively reducing their margins) to meet their end-of-year goals. 

But there’s a big potential spanner in the works – inflation. 

Headline inflation is still proving sticky at 2%, with some experts believing it may have bottomed out already. 

Why? Well, wage growth and core service inflation are not coming down. If anything, the expectation is that headline inflation might yet rise slightly further. Such an inflation uptick could reverse the recent rate falls. 

Financial markets are still volatile and sensitive to global economic crises. 

There are three key factors indirectly keeping costs high: the Israel/Gaza war (which would result in additional import costs), the Ukraine/Russia conflict (higher energy costs), and uncertainty of the outcome of the US election as well as subsequent relationships with China and Europe/Ukraine. 

It’s all about sentiment and confidence. We need to avoid instability that could trigger inflation again. If we can avoid a regional conflict in the Middle East, we will see a rise in business levels in the fourth quarter or early next year.