Mortgage brokers believe they write more specialist residential mortgage business this year than ever before, according to a poll by Norton Home Loans.

The specialist first and second charge mortgage lender found that 80% of brokers think they will write more specialist residential business, including adverse credit, unusual income or property, in 2022 than any time previously.

However, this increase in specialist mortgage business is not necessarily a direct result of the Covid pandemic. 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, according to 53% of brokers, followed by freehold flats, which were flagged by 41% of brokers, then flat roofs and flats with balcony access, both of which were cited by 29% of brokers.

The survey was conducted by Norton Home Loans in association with Knowledge Bank. Norton Home Loans is a specialist lender offering first and second charge mortgages to customers who don’t tick all the boxes with high street lenders.

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.”