Broker satisfaction with mortgage lenders currently stands at 81.3%, a rise of 1% from H1 2021, and an increase of 3.5% from 12 months’ ago, according to new research from Smart Money People.

However, the research has found that broker satisfaction has not yet recovered to the pre pandemic peak of 82.7% seen at the start of 2020.

Smart Money People is a financial services customer review and insight website, and the findings come from its twice-yearly Mortgage Lender Benchmark which looks at the state of the mortgage industry according to the views of brokers.

The latest publication comprises feedback from over 750 mortgage brokers on 49 mortgage lenders.

The Mortgage Lender Benchmark also asked brokers how likely they are to recommend a lender, to calculate the Net Promoter Score, a measure of loyalty. The average score for all lenders within the benchmark increased by 2.4 to 27.1. The peak Net Promoter Score for all lenders was recorded at the start of 2020 at 30.8. Specialist lenders performed the strongest of all sectors for an improvement to their Net Promoter Score in the eyes of brokers, registering an increase of 15.8 from -3.5 in H1 2021 to 12.3 in H2 2021.

Jacqueline Dewey, CEO of Smart Money People, said: “The sustained increased in broker satisfaction with lenders for H2 2021 shows that the mortgage industry is now returning to normality following the perfect storm of disruption to normal working patterns over the last two years and an unprecedented level of demand for mortgages in 2021.

“New data released from UK Finance this week has suggested that levels of lending will be at their highest since 2007, and the findings today suggest that in the eyes of mortgage brokers, lenders have responded incredibly well.”