Adviser business volumes reached record highs in the second quarter of this year, the Imla market tracker has found, while first-time buyer cases edged up.

Advisers processed an average of 95 cases in Q2, up from 89 in Q1, more applications than at any period since Imla began recording intermediary business activity.

Confidence in the future of the mortgage industry also grew in Q2, with 98% of the 300 intermediaries interviewed by Imla stating they were ‘fairly’ or ‘very’ confident about it.

A further 97% of advisers also feel confident about the outlook for the intermediary sector.

Intermediaries were most confident about the outlook for their own business, with 99% reporting confidence. 

In the second quarter, approximately two thirds of cases handled by advisers were for residential mortgages, according to the Imla report, while 26% related to buy-to-let customers, and 7% were specialist.

However, the proportion of first-time buyer cases handled by advisers edged up from 20% to 23%, potentially reflecting the growing availability of low deposit mortgage products.

The average number of Dips (decisions in principle) processed by intermediaries reached a two-year high in Q2, increasing from 28 to 31. The conversion rate from Dip to completion was, however, stable quarter-on-quarter at around 43% in both Q1 and Q2. The conversion rate from offer to completion also reached its highest level since the start of the pandemic (77%).

The conversion rate from application to completion also edged up to 67% in Q2 2021, compared to 64% in Q1 2021. Roughly two-thirds of applications resulted in a completion in Q2, a slight increase on the previous quarter.

Imla executive director Kate Davies says: “The positive findings of our latest report clearly reflect the strong recovery seen by the housing and mortgage markets in 2021. This buoyancy has driven activity and helped to provide confidence to consumers and the intermediary community. As a result, we have seen advisers’ confidence levels and average business volumes increasing to some of the highest recorded.

“Of course, we may see a softening in purchase activity in the second half of 2021 in line with slowing Government support, but advisers should feel spurred by the sizeable refinance market at play and a growing reliance on mortgage advice among those who have seen their financial circumstances complicated by the pandemic.”