Estate agent Peter Alan, which has 26 branches across Wales, has begun on a recruitment drive to almost double the number of mortgage services consultants in its local offices.

Since its change of ownership to the Connells Group in July 2014, Peter Alan has been investing in the mortgage services department, expanding from nine advisers at the start of the year, up to the 17 which are currently in place.

This will continue into 2015 with the aim of having a mortgage consultant permanently based in every one of its 26 branches.

Andrew Barry, Peter Alan’s manager director, said: “We are delighted with how the mortgage services recruitment is going. The calibre of applicants has been outstanding which will ensure we continue to offer a high quality mortgage service to customers across our branch network.

“Peter Alan is a growing business and the demand for our additional property services such as mortgage advice is high. This is an increasingly valuable service for our customers, hence why we felt it important to ensure investment in this area was a key priority under the new ownership of Connells.”

Adrian Scott, mortgage services director for the Connells Group, added: “We have continued to invest in our Mortgage Services offering and boost our consultant numbers over the last few years. With Peter Alan now firmly ensconced within the Connells Group, we have supported their desire to make the mortgage services offering available to more customers and more branches and will continue to invest in this as part of our overall expansion strategy.”