Driven by the restrictions placed on the industry throughout the pandemic, lenders have focused on system modernisation, process efficiency and digitisation.
Iress also found that there was significant variation in application to offer timescales, with averages ranging from 14 days to 32 across the lenders surveyed.
As well as this, there has been an increase in the number of mortgage applications via intermediaries, up from 77.5% to 90%, and open banking has dropped down the priority list for many lenders.
Retention rates were stronger among high street lenders and building societies than challenger banks and specialist lenders.
Steve Carruthers, head of business development at Iress, said: “Since the last survey, conducted just a few weeks into the first national lockdown, few of us would have imagined the industry would go on to experience record lending volumes in 2021.
“A continued low interest rate environment, changing preferences amongst UK house buyers, the extended stamp duty holiday and the government’s 95% loan-to-value (LTV) guarantee scheme did much to restore confidence in mortgage lending and borrowing.
“It brought much change and new challenges for lenders – but the need to process business efficiently has not changed; whether because of the volatile volumes, the evolving requirements of borrowers, the risk appetites of lenders, or how applications need to be processed.
“Our report shows true evolution across all parts of the industry at a time when efficiency and agility is more critical than ever.”
