Seventy-seven per cent of brokers believe mortgage lending will recover to pre-coronavirus levels within nine months, according to new research published by Smart Money People.

The study, conducted amongst 467 mortgage brokers, also revealed that 51% believe this recovery will happen within 6 months.

The findings were part of Smart Money People’s fourth edition of its Mortgage Lender Benchmark, which is due to be released in June, and also revealed that appointed representatives proved to be significantly more optimistic than directly authorised brokers, with 59% of appointed representatives predicting that lending levels will recover within six months, compared to just 37% of directly authorised brokers.

Smart Money People founder, Michael Fotis, said: “Tentative steps are being taken to get the economy moving, and on the mortgage front, many lenders are talking loudly about their appetite to lend.

“That said, with job security likely to be a concern for many consumers, and predictions that house prices may decline by up to 13%, it’s really hard to see customer appetite for new mortgage lending returning until 2021 at the earliest.

“Brokers focused on the equity release market proved to be particularly sceptical of any v-shaped bounce back. While 51% of all brokers completing the survey believe that lending levels will recover within 6 months, just 19% of equity release-focused brokers agreed. Twenty-eight per cent of equity release-focused brokers predicted that lending levels would take more than 12 months to recover.”

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