Around a third of mortgage advisers think that business will be better over the next three months as the previous quarter, but this figure has dropped and advisers are slightly more pessimistic this time around, according to the Legal & General Adviser Confidence Index for Q2 2010.

Legal & General polled 122 advisers of its mortgage network, Legal & General Partnership Services Limited, in May 2010.

Advisers expect house purchase mortgages to represent an average of 51% of their sales over the next quarter. This is the highest level since the index started at the beginning of 2008. Remortgage business is forecast to be about 31% – the lowest level since the start of 2008.

Stephen Smith, Legal & General’s director of housing, said: “Interest rate hawks are gradually getting more prevalent