Mortgage club TMA polled advisers at a recent event and found that one in five believes gross lending in 2024 will be over £251 billion.

A further three in five expect gross lending this year to be between £220 billion and £250 billion.

This optimism is despite official figures from UK Finance showing that gross lending fell by 28% to £226 billion last year as borrowers tightened their belts amid rapidly rising living costs. Furthermore, the trade body has forecast a further fall this year, taking gross lending down to £215 billion.

Lisa Martin, TMA’s development director, said: “Inflation fears are receding faster than the Bank of England had been expecting and the latest indications from the governor Andrew Bailey suggest we may see a base rate cut later in the year.

“That shift in the first three months of this year has boosted borrower confidence and advisers are seeing more engagement.

“There are still affordability pressures but lenders are definitely pricing to take market share and that’s keeping activity up.”

Brokers were underwhelmed by the Spring Budget, with 95% of those polled by TMA confirming that nothing announced would ease borrower affordability, with those set to remortgage this year still facing the same affordability challenges.

Stronger lending is likely to come from the purchase side of the market, they suggested.

In February property listings website Zoopla reported 15% more property sales than this time last year. Buyer demand is 11% higher than a year ago and there are 21% more homes for sale.

Martin added: “There is evidence that the housing market is back on track and brokers are seeing a rise in the number of clients looking to purchase, while remortgage activity remains steady.”