Mortgage advisers ended 2025 increasingly confident in their own businesses even as sentiment towards the wider mortgage market softened, latest data from Intermediary Mortgage Lenders Association (IMLA) reveals.
IMLA’s Q4 Mortgage Market Tracker shows overall confidence in the outlook for the mortgage industry edged down during the final quarter of the year, remaining below the highs typically seen between 2015 and 2019. However, confidence rebounded steadily towards year end.
By December, 57% of advisers described themselves as ‘very confident’ about the outlook for their own firms, with a further 43% ‘fairly confident’ – meaning every respondent expressed some degree of optimism about their business prospects.
CASE VOLUMES
The average intermediary placed 89 mortgages over the past 12 months, down from 92 in Q3 but still well ahead of the 80 recorded in Q4 2024.
Despite handling slightly fewer cases, brokers improved conversion rates across the board.
Decisions in Principle resulting in an accept rose to 86% – the highest level in three years. Conversion from DIP to completion climbed four percentage points to 40%, while full application to completion improved from 62% to 65%.
The figures point to greater processing efficiency even as market conditions remain cautious.
ECONOMIC UNCERTAINTY
Kate Davies (main picture, inset), executive director of IMLA, said: “It is understandable that confidence in the wider mortgage market was somewhat subdued at the end of last year. In Q4, advisers were operating against a backdrop of economic uncertainty exacerbated by the run-up to and announcement of November’s Budget, which put a dampener on investment and growth throughout the second half of 2025.
“In fact, according to IMLA’s own figures as recorded in the New Normal Report, gross mortgage lending increased by 19% in 2025, and is forecast to grow another 11% this year.”
CENTRAL ROLE
She added: “As we move further into 2026, with the Budget (and Budget speculation) firmly behind us, falling interest rates and greater clarity around fiscal policy should help support a firmer recovery in sentiment regarding the wider mortgage market.
“Broker confidence in their own businesses has remained extremely robust throughout, underlining the resilience of intermediary firms despite policy uncertainty and an unsettled economic environment.
“As the market grows this year, intermediaries will continue to play a central role in guiding around 90% of borrowers through a complex and competitive lending landscape.”
