Mortgage intermediaries handled record levels of business in the second quarter of 2026 despite growing less confident about the wider market outlook, according to the Intermediary Mortgage Lenders Association.
The average number of mortgage cases placed by intermediaries rose to 105 a year in the second quarter, from 96 in the first, reaching its highest level since the first quarter of 2010, IMLA’s latest Mortgage Market Tracker found.
Mortgage brokers reported an average of 110 cases, compared with 71 among independent financial advisers.
The increase followed an unusually busy start to 2026, when geopolitical uncertainty and volatility in swap rates prompted some borrowers to bring forward mortgage activity. Rather than subsiding in the second quarter, however, intermediary business volumes increased further.
Bank of England figures also indicated stronger activity, with gross secured lending rising by £9bn during the quarter to £77bn.
Intermediaries dealt with an average of 29 decisions in principle during the second quarter, up from 26 in the first. The proportion that ultimately resulted in a completion increased from 37% to 40%, meaning about 11 of every 29 decisions in principle progressed to completion.
The proportion of accepted decisions in principle progressing to a full mortgage application rose from 73% to 78%, its first increase in a year. The share of full applications resulting in an offer increased from 84% to 87%, while the overall application-to-completion conversion rate remained unchanged at 61%.
Intermediaries specialising in first-time buyers recorded a particularly strong improvement, with 39% of decisions in principle progressing to completion, up 10 percentage points from the first quarter.
The rise in business volumes was accompanied by a marked decline in confidence about the wider outlook. Net confidence in the mortgage industry fell 13 points to 66, while confidence in the intermediary sector dropped 12 points to 70.
Confidence in advisers’ own businesses was more resilient, declining by seven points but remaining high at 88.
Kate Davies, executive director of IMLA, said: “The most striking feature of these figures is the contrast between sentiment and activity. Intermediaries’ confidence has fallen but they are busier than ever, and conversion rates are improving.
“The fall in confidence is understandable given the unsettled economic and political backdrop. The conflict in the Middle East has pushed up energy prices and inflation expectations, reducing hopes of further cuts to Bank Rate this year, although the economic impact has so far proved less severe than initially feared.
“At home, another period of political uncertainty culminated in our seventh change of Prime Minister in a decade.
“Against that backdrop, the resilience of the mortgage market is encouraging. Andy Burnham has arrived in Downing Street on a wave of optimism and with an ambition to get the economy moving.
“It will be interesting to see whether that more positive mood feeds through into intermediary confidence in Q3.”
