Mortgage brokers claim better access to products
The number of mortgage brokers unable to assist clients due to lenders offering better deals direct has decreased from half (48%) to a third (33%), according to the Association of Mortgage Intermediaries (AMI). This continues the downward trend observed across the market and which is predicted to continue.Chris Cummings, Director General of the AMI, said: "It is extremely positive that brokers are again getting access to the best products. Consumers wish to deal with mortgage intermediaries and record numbers have done so during the course of 2008. It must always be remembered that consumers want help and advice to find the most suitable mortgage for them - they put ‘service' as the number one reason to use an intermediary not ‘rate'. Intermediaries have a positive future because we provide the service that consumers value so highly.
"We welcomed the intervention of the government in the mortgage market. We now need to see a concerted effort from lenders to kickstart the market and ensure the slump we are currently in does not become worse."
The number of brokers who expect to see fewer lenders operating in the intermediary market over the next 3 months has gone up from half (50%) to three quarters (73%)
‘Maximum LTV reached' dominates the reasons for brokers being unable to assist both purchase and remortgage clients - up from 38% in June to 55% in September as house prices fell in value
Over the last 6 months there has been a continual decline in the proportion of brokers' business coming from mortgages - now the average proportion is 55% (versus 65% in April) as it is replaced with other products and services.
Chris added: "There are clearly still real difficulties in the market and intermediary firms are looking at how they can weather the storm. To assist firms we ran a series of diversification workshops in September to help broaden their business base. This is going to be very important for members to continue to assist their clients over the longer term."