Cover
Ground Zero
So how was it for you? Advisers from First Complete, Pink and The Mortgage Alliance reflect on the last 12 months and look forward to 2013 and beyond
by
Jon Round, director of LSL Financial Services
2012 has been a much more positive year that many predicted at the beginning of the year. Despite – or because of – the Olympic Games and the Queen’s jubilee, we nearly all ended the year in a much better position than we did last year and with a greater sense of optimism. The latest Council of Mortgage Lenders’ figures show more lending than most expected both in gross and net lending and the its forecast for 2013 is also positive as the CML forecasts that gross lending will be £23bn higher than it predicted at the start of last year.
In fact, with almost every report you
read there is a distinct optimism for this year which looks like it will be the best for some while.
For LSL 2012 was also a good year with both Pink and First Complete networks continuing to grow. We had a strong finish to the year with protection as well as mortgages due to The Gender
Directive deadline. A picture that I’m sure has been seen across the market. The protection picture is a positive one as increasingly people are realising the need for protection and also that they need broker support to arrange it, which has resulted in increasing levels of protection sales as the year went on.
While 2013 is, of course, not all going to be plain sailing there will undoubtedly be more events that will keep us on our toes. We have the transference of regulation from the FSA to the FCA which will begin in April, we still wait to see what legislation the European Parliament will implement regarding the advice and sale of mortgages and we have just over a year to get ready for the Mortgage Market Review. However it feels like we are all in a better position to cope with this at the start of 2013 than we were a year ago. Most advisers are feeling positive about 2013, not only about the predicted level of lending but also the amount of protection business that they expect to do. The biggest call from brokers everywhere remains for higher loan to values and slightly more relaxed criteria, especially for first-time buyers.
28 MORTGAGE INTRODUCER JANUARY 2013
Name: Bobby Rees Position: Mortgage and Protection Adviser Company: Linear
A lot of what we do is estate agency based and 2012 was quite a busy year, although it’s fair to say we didn’t see any great increase in our mortgage business. Where we did see growth was in protection. Protection plays a big part of our business and has done from the start, maximising every opportunity, to increase our revenue.
“If we can get the first-time buyers through we could have a busy 2013. It is very refreshing seeing such low rates and incentives”
The one thing we noticed towards the end of the year was the amount of clients being declined mortgages because of low credit scores, rather than previous bad debt. Many lenders offering lower rates have tightened criteria and as the majority of our business comes from first time buyers, with lower deposits getting them a mortgage is becoming a struggle. Unfortunately, our clients just want a mortgage so it’s frustrating.
At the minute I can see many potential buyers. If we can get the first-time buyers through we could have a busy 2013, it is very refreshing seeing such low rates and incentives which will encourage people into the market.
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