Pete Mugleston, of Online Mortgage Advisor, believes that improvements to finance-based technological processes will enable most borrowers to easily find mortgages to suit their needs - but, worryingly, he says this could have implications for advisers.
“This will leave just a small specialist market for direct support,” the Managing Director of the mortgage information hub adds.
This would drastically reverse the trend seen in the mortgage market over the past decade. Up until 2012, most mortgages were taken out directly from a bank or building society. Skip forward to 2014, and more than 60% of loans were arranged through brokers.
Nevertheless, Mugleston claims: “We are on the verge of some real breakthroughs with APIs [application programming interfaces] and automation, and I can see, in another ten years, the mortgage application being as simple as car insurance for many borrowers.”
So, how does Mugleston think the market has changed over the past decade?
“The mortgage market is a completely different place to 2009-10,” he explains. “Regulation was still relatively new and the market was still hit hard by the recession, with a strong weight of deals being done directly with lenders and not intermediaries.”
Mugleston continues: “Today, getting an appointment with the bank is tough and brokers are handling the majority of applications. The Mortgage Market Review has tightened regulation, and further ensured borrowers are creditworthy and able to afford their loans.
“As a result, many have found it more difficult to be approved. That said, there are many lenders available for those with all sorts of needs and, whilst finding a deal can be tough, there are mortgages there if you know where to look.”
