Confidence may slowly be returning to the mortgage market, new survey results show.
Mortgage brokers are feeling slightly more confident about the future prospects for the mortgage industry, according to a survey by the Intermediary Mortgage Lenders Association (IMLA). However, despite this slight improvement in sentiment, the market remains unstable, the organisation has warned.
The 500 brokers questioned by the IMLA said they expect to see a 2.3 percent decline in the number of first-time buyers taking out mortgages over the coming months. In May, they predicted a five percent drop, suggesting that confidence is on the up. Brokers also expect remortgaging activity to remain relatively stable, falling just 0.3 percent.
Peter Williams, executive director of IMLA, said: "These survey results, obtained from intermediaries before the latest volatility in international markets, appear to offer a glimmer of hope that confidence among brokers is starting to return, very slowly."
But he also sounded a note of caution, pointing out that recent data from the Bank of England alludes to further tightening in the credit markets, which could have a negative impact on broker confidence.
Meanwhile, the latest house price index from Halifax Bank of Scotland revealed that property prices experienced their sharpest decline in almost a quarter of century last month. Average values are now close to the levels seen in January 2006.
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