Advisers’ confidence in their own businesses fell slightly in the third quarter of the year, despite the over outlook for the intermediary mortgage market remaining stable.
According to the latest Mortgage Market Tracker from the Intermediary Mortgage Lenders Association (Imla), the percentage of mortgage brokers who said they felt ‘very confident’ in their own business fell from 54% in Q2 to 44% in Q3 this year.
The proportion of advisers who said they were ‘not very confident’ in their business prospects grew from 2% to 3%, though the tracker found that those who reported being ‘fairly confident’ in their business rose from 43% to 51%.
Overall, the report found intermediary confidence in the outlook for the industry was steady, having recovered from a slight dip after the election.
In July, the proportion of advisers who said they felt ‘very positive’ about their sector fell from 42% in July to 33% in August, before recovering to 44% in September.
Business volumes reduced very slightly, with the average number of mortgage cases placed by all intermediaries (mortgage brokers and IFAs combined) on an annual basis falling to 92, compared with 96 in Q2. Mortgage brokers processed an average of 96 cases, down 6 on the previous quarter, while IFA numbers were stable at 68.
There was a small decline in the proportion of buy-to-let cases from around a quarter in Q2 to 22% in Q3 2024, with residential lending accounting for 68% and specialist business levels stable at one in 10 cases.
The average number of Decisions in Principle (DIPs) that intermediaries processed in Q3 returned towards long-run average levels at 27, down from a peak of 33 in Q2 – a level that had not been seen for two years.
Conversions from DIP to completion stabilised at 39% having fallen by six percentage points in the previous quarter.
Imla executive director Kate Davies says: “July’s General Election caused a very slight wobble in advisers’ confidence in their own business, but overall the results for Q3 2024 continue to reflect sustained positive sentiment about a mortgage market recovering well from the fiscal shock of Q3 2022.
“Business volumes remain healthy, and the fact that there has only been a slight drop off in the proportion of buy-to-let business, despite fears about a Labour government potentially adopting an anti-landlord stance, is testament to the continued resilience of this key sector.
“The economy continues to be characterised by uncertainty, creating a difficult working environment for advisers, who are having to dig deep and put in long hours to secure the most appropriate solutions for their customers. October’s Budget and the US election result may well add to the economic uncertainty, and it will be interesting to see how these events impact our markets and adviser confidence in Q4.”
