Blog

Why advisers are so vital in the mortgage market

Bob Hunt

Bob Hunt

5 January 2023

Looking forward to what a new year might offer mortgage advisers, there may be some who feel a slight sense of déjà vu.

A case of new year, same issues, but there’s no doubting that the market feels a million miles away from what it was offering back in October, and since then we have marched – albeit slowly and steadily – back to a point where the sector resembles much more its pre-Mini Budget normality.

Those retracing of steps however is certainly not complete, and there’s also plenty to indicate that the road travelled has been changed and altered by those Autumnal events.

One positive to have come out of that period however was (and is) the dominance of the adviser community in terms of mortgage product distribution.

Just before Christmas, IMLA issued its ‘The new normal – prospects for 2023 and 2024’ document and you couldn’t help but be struck by the levels of business and market share it believes advisers have taken, and what can be achieved in the future.

There will be many reading this, who are long enough in the advisory tooth, to remember a mortgage market where distribution tended to be split 50/50 between direct and intermediated.

Where, if we are being honest, advisers were likely to be on the wrong end of that market share coin, with many, many lenders continuing to pour most of their effort and resources into their branches/direct-only ‘advisers’, adamant this was the future of their mortgage product sales.

That has, for the most part, been a strategy consigned to the scrapheap by most lenders. IMLA figures suggest advisers were responsible for 84% of all mortgage distribution in 2022, up from 80% in the year previously, and according to the trade body, destined to improve even further to 90% by 2024.

To anyone reading this 10/15/20 years ago, such a market share figure for advisers would have seemed inconceivable, and yet here we are, with all the signals of why consumers trust advisers and why lenders now fully accept the many efficiencies of intermediary distribution, burning brightly in our sector’s favour.

Last Autumn provided ample evidence of why advisers are so vital in the mortgage market. ‘If you can keep your head when all about you are losing theirs…’ springs to mind as a suitable quotation for those times, albeit without the end part of ‘…and blaming it on you’.

Because consumers were certainly not blaming their situation on advisers; instead, they were completely reliant on them in order to extricate them from a situation not of their making, or indeed to stop them making rash decisions which would ultimately end up costing them more than they thought they were saving.

We all have a feeling that lending activity will be down on 2022, which ended up producing – over the full 12 months – a very strong market for us. However, what we need to keep in mind is this is a market we are expected to take an 85 to 90% share of, and that is a sizeable amount of business to be written in anyone’s language, especially if you can make sure you cover off all other ancillary wants and needs, not just the mortgage.

With remortgaging likely to be the bedrock of our 2023 market, the opportunities to explore with existing clients current needs in what is likely to be a different economic situation and environment from the last time they remortgaged, should be self-evident, and there should be a greater level of engagement from those clients especially in light of what happened during last year.

Product numbers are on the up, rates should continue to trend downwards based on lender ambition and market competitiveness, and advisers should be able to position themselves number one in the queue as the go-to source for the vast majority of consumers when it comes to sorting out their mortgage finance needs.

This can be a very positive year for the sector if we keep pressing home the advantages for both consumers and lenders in making the most of the high-quality intermediary community that we know we have. Here’s to a very productive year in which market share continues to flow down the river to advisers.

Reading this blog counts towards your CPD!

Click here to add this session to your Paradigm CPD log.


7 October 2024

What may impact BTL and Resi markets in 2025?


1 October 2024

Why Gen Z could be the perfect match for protection


30 September 2024

Self-employed mortgages can be easy, if you choose the right lender


26 September 2024

Lenders and regulators must be careful not to add to adviser disillusion


19 September 2024

There may be trouble ahead…


2 September 2024

Source Go: The Modern Answer to the GI Question


29 August 2024

Pre- and post-mini Budget remortgagors need guidance in transformed market


23 August 2024

Guardian's 2023 claims report: a milestone worth celebrating


14 August 2024

Rate cuts are a positive story for advisers


7 August 2024

Mind the gap (s)...


1 August 2024

The mortgage market is set for a teeming H2


29 July 2024

Aldermore are backing more of your clients to go for it


22 July 2024

YOU SAID, WE DID!


12 July 2024

A surge of optimism for the market


9 July 2024

Distribution of Wealth


3 July 2024

Consumer Duty one year on – what might happen next?


24 June 2024

How to increase your protection business


17 June 2024

Consumer Duty will mark new era of continuously changing advice


6 June 2024

Mental Health Matters: Workplace Wellbeing


21 May 2024

Advise or refer? Ensuring the best possible outcomes for your clients


15 May 2024

Darlington Criteria Updates


14 May 2024

And The Wait Goes On


10 May 2024

Cap on broker fees sparks industry debate


1 May 2024

Expect the unexpected


15 April 2024

Ready, set, remortgage!


12 April 2024

How the mortgage market is failing new arrivals to the UK


11 April 2024

A compliance refresh will lighten unavoidable market stress


4 April 2024

What is driving the Specialist Residential and Buy-to-Let markets this year?


4 April 2024

A Government that prioritises owner occupiers at the expense of the PRS


28 March 2024

What is your website for?


19 March 2024

Exploring the value of value added benefits


4 March 2024

Artificial intelligence – friend or foe to advisers?


21 February 2024

RESTRICTIONS LIFTED?


9 February 2024

Trust your own gut when listening to market predictions


7 February 2024

Strategic thinking - Is this time for a new look at how we work as a business?


8 January 2024

The Name's Bond...


21 December 2023

PTs remain a big part of the marketplace


21 December 2023

Not all wine and roses but outlook is better


15 December 2023

Artificial Intelligence: A vision for the future


12 December 2023

Reflecting on 2023


11 December 2023

Mental Health Matters: Menopause


8 December 2023

Looking ahead: Reasons to be cheerful about the market in 2023


17 November 2023

Why TikTok could be a winning tactic for brokers


30 October 2023

How advisers can improve the quality metrics with insurers


27 October 2023

The Aggregator Market - Friend or Foe?


25 October 2023

Don’t let Charter support remove advice from the mortgage process


3 October 2023

How to strengthen your defences against cyber threats


29 September 2023

White Dragon Communications


8 September 2023

Advisers deserve recognition for keeping borrowers on lender books


8 September 2023

Claims history of an insurance should form core part of assessing true value of insurance and advic


23 August 2023

The good, the bad & the ugly of using Artificial Intelligence (AI)


14 August 2023

Accessibility in your marketing


14 August 2023

Choosing the right social media platform for you


7 August 2023

Staying safe online


4 August 2023

The blasé attitude towards sudden mortgage withdrawals is not good enough


1 August 2023

Is your content compliant?


10 July 2023

The argument for higher proc fees for better quality business is undeniable


22 June 2023

Product withdrawal timescales and how brokers can adapt


1 June 2023

We're not in mini-Budget territory yet!


24 May 2023

Skipton’s 100 per cent mortgage should be replicated, not feared


30 April 2023

Protection And Mortgage Fair Value Assessments – What Is My Actual Responsibility?


6 April 2023

Lenders will compete on mortgage rates, but don’t expect a price war


27 March 2023

Vulnerable Customers and Economic Abuse


10 March 2023

Tell borrowers to stop waiting for mortgage rates to fall


7 March 2023

Mixed messages from Bank of England boss ahead of MPC meeting


6 March 2023

Take the Consumer Duty seriously when it comes to protection


17 February 2023

Mortgage Market Update


10 February 2023

Let’s not be hasty and write off this year’s property purchase appetite


6 February 2023

Implementing Consumer Duty


9 January 2023

Income Drawdown – moving with the times


9 January 2023

Why it’s so important you tell us about your vulnerable customers


5 January 2023

Why advisers are so vital in the mortgage market


Paradigm

THIS SITE IS FOR PROFESSIONAL INTERMEDIARY USE ONLY AND NOT FOR USE BY THE GENERAL PUBLIC.

APCC MemberConsumer Duty Alliance

Paradigm Consulting is a Member of the Association of Professional Compliance Consultants and also the Consumer Duty Alliance.

Paradigm Consulting is a trading name of Paradigm Partners Ltd
Office address: Paradigm Partners Ltd, Paradigm House, Brooke Court, Wilmslow, Cheshire, SK9 3ND
Paradigm Partners Ltd is registered in England and Wales. No.09902499. Registered Office: As above

Paradigm Mortgage Services LLP
Office address: 1310 Solihull Parkway, Birmingham Business Park, Birmingham B37 7YB
Registered in England and Wales. Company No: OC323403. Registered Office: Paradigm House, Brooke Court, Lower Meadow Road, Wilmslow, SK9 3ND
Paradigm Mortgage Services LLP is a Limited Liability Partnership.

Paradigm Protect is a trading name of Paradigm Mortgage Services LLP
Office address: 1310 Solihull Parkway, Birmingham Business Park, Birmingham B37 7YB
Paradigm Mortgage Services LLP is registered in England and Wales. Company No: OC323403. Registered Office: Paradigm House, Brooke Court, Lower Meadow Road, Wilmslow, SK9 3ND
Paradigm Mortgage Services LLP is a Limited Liability Partnership.