When asked if they were seeing more adverse credit cases since the start of the pandemic, only 43% of brokers said yes, compared to 57% who said no.

The brokers who were surveyed said unusual property types caused regular issues when trying to place cases, with the most difficult being timber or steel framed construction (53%), followed by freehold flats (41%), then flat roofs and flats with balcony access (29% each).

The survey was conducted by Norton Home Loans in association with Knowledge Bank.

David Binney, commercial manager at Norton Home Loans, said: “Specialist mortgages cater for a variety of circumstances, including adverse credit, unusual incomes and different property types and the experience of brokers is that they are seeing more of these more complex cases than ever before. But placing a specialist mortgage doesn’t need to be complicated.

“Norton Home Loans can work directly with brokers, we have a simple process and will even walk them through the application step-by-step, with unrivalled hands-on service. Specialist mortgages are going to prove a big growth area for brokers this year and we are on hand to help them grow.”