Broker business hits record high despite confidence fall
Mortgage intermediaries are handling record levels of business despite becoming less confident about the wider market outlook, according to the latest Mortgage Market Tracker from the Intermediary Mortgage Lenders Association (IMLA).
The average number of mortgage cases placed by intermediaries rose to 105 a year in Q2 2026, up from 96 in Q1 and the highest level recorded since Q1 2010. Mortgage brokers reported an average of 110 cases, compared with 71 among IFAs.
The increase follows an unusually busy start to 2026, when geopolitical uncertainty and volatility in swap rates encouraged some borrowers to bring forward mortgage activity. Rather than falling back in Q2, however, intermediary business volumes increased further. Bank of England data also points to stronger activity, with gross secured lending rising by £9bn over the quarter to £77bn.
Business flow data provides further evidence of resilience. Intermediaries dealt with an average of 29 Decisions in Principle (DIPs) during Q2, up from 26 in Q1, while the proportion of DIPs ultimately resulting in a completion increased from 37% to 40%. Around 11 of every 29 DIPs progressed through to completion.
There was also an improvement further up the pipeline. The proportion of DIP accepts progressing to full mortgage application rose from 73% to 78%, the first increase in a year, while the proportion of full applications resulting in an offer increased from 84% to 87%. Overall application-to-completion conversion remained unchanged at 61%.
First-time buyer-focused intermediaries saw a particularly strong improvement in conversion, with 39% of DIPs progressing to completion, up 10 percentage points from Q1.
However, the strength of 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 fell 12 points to 70. Confidence in advisers’ own firms proved considerably more resilient, falling seven points but remaining high at 88.
Kate Davies, executive director of IMLA, commented: “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.”