The intermediary sector is more pessimistic now than it has been during the past 12 months, according to a new quarterly index of mortgage intermediary outlook from Platform and research organisation BDRC Continental.

The firms say the Intermediary Mortgage Index will act as a barometer of the broker market and monitors the views of around 300 mortgage professionals.

It has been tracking the sector’s optimism for over 12 months and shows that while confidence had bolstered in the past year, the sector saw a sharp fall between Q2 and Q3.

This deterioration in sentiment is largely driven by the belief that some lenders have become less willing to lend since the first half of 2010. 51% are concerned that lenders are bypassing the sector to offer consumers products direct.

The research also shows that brokers have seen a reduction in re-mortgage business in the last three months and been hit by the loss of products for self employed people following new guidelines from the FSA’s Mortgage Market Review.

As brokers represent the majority of the overall mortgage market, Platform believes the sector’s views provide a solid indication of the next direction of the market.

Lee Gladwell, business development director at Platform, said: “This new tracker acts as a forward looking indicator for the mortgage market by giving intermediaries a voice about their experiences with consumers.