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Are mortgage brokers moving into specialist finance as straightforward cases go digital?

ended 17. September 2026

Are mortgage brokers moving into specialist finance as straightforward cases go digital?

As lenders develop more direct online journeys and AI-assisted processes, some mortgage brokers believe borrowers may need less help arranging straightforward residential mortgages in future.

Bridging Loan Directory is examining whether this is already prompting brokers to develop expertise in bridging, development finance, commercial mortgages, complex buy-to-let and other specialist areas where individual judgement remains important.

We would like to hear from mortgage and specialist finance brokers, lenders, networks, technology providers and compliance professionals.

  • Has the proportion of specialist business handled by your firm changed during the past two years?
  • Are brokers diversifying because of automation and direct lending, or for other reasons?
  • Which specialist areas are attracting them?
  • What expertise, training or lender relationships are needed to make the transition successfully?
  • Can you provide a recent case where human judgement made a difference that an automated journey would probably have missed?
  • Do you disagree that technology threatens the role of brokers in straightforward cases?

Figures and recent first-hand examples would be particularly useful. Responses of around 100–200 words would be ideal.

10 responses from the Newspage community

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Tony SanchezVerified
Founder at Bridging Loan Directory
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I think AI will put pressure on brokers to demonstrate what clients are paying for. If arranging a straightforward mortgage becomes easier, specialist finance may look like an attractive direction.

But moving into development or bridging finance requires more than access to a different panel of lenders. Brokers need to understand the project, the borrower’s cash position and how the loan will be repaid if things don’t go to plan.

Technology can help with that work too. The opportunity is to build expertise clients value, rather than assume complex lending will remain untouched by AI.
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Stephen PerkinsVerified
Norwich Mortgage Broker and Managing Director at Yellow Brick Mortgages
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Technology will undoubtedly make it easier for consumers to find mortgage products and complete straightforward applications, but that doesn’t remove the wider value a good broker should provide. If a broker’s service is simply comparing rates and submitting an application, then technology is a genuine threat.

The value should be in understanding affordability across different lenders, interpreting criteria, helping clients make the right decisions and guiding them through the whole transaction when problems arise. That can include dealing with lenders, valuers, estate agents and solicitors rather than leaving the client to navigate everything alone.

Some brokers will choose to specialise, but I don’t think every mainstream broker needs to move into bridging or commercial finance. Technology should push brokers to add more value around the mortgage, not necessarily abandon straightforward residential clients.
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Nouran MoustafaVerified
Practice Principal & IFA at Roxton Wealth
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Technology will eat mortgage admin long before it eats mortgage advice.

Straightforward residential cases will become increasingly digital, and some brokers will absolutely move further into bridging, development finance, complex buy-to-let and commercial lending. But I do not think that is because brokers are becoming obsolete. It is because the value of a broker is shifting from form-filling to judgement.

Specialist finance is where the variables multiply: valuation method, exit strategy, ownership structure, rental stress, refurbishment costs, planning, lender appetite and timing can all change the outcome.

I have seen cases where a deal technically “fits” criteria but the wrong lender, valuer or exit assumption could still derail it.

The brokers who succeed will not simply collect more lender logos. They will understand how each lender thinks.

Simple cases may become click-to-buy. Complex finance will remain think-to-buy.
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Matt CoulsonVerified
Founder at Heron Financial
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I'd gently push back on the premise. Automation is genuinely good at the clean, vanilla case, and it should be doing that work. But straightforward is a label a case keeps right up until it isn't. An affordability engine gives you a yes or a no. It doesn't clock that a self-employed applicant's dip in profit was a one-off, or repackage the case for a lender who'll take a view on it, and that's where a broker still earns their place. So yes, some brokers are leaning into specialist lending, bridging, development and complex buy-to-let, because that complexity is defensible and automation won't reach it any time soon. Those areas are growing for good reason. Our own answer has been to build technology into how we work rather than run from it, so the simple cases move quickly and human time goes where judgment actually pays. Technology raises the floor on the easy stuff. It doesn't remove the reason someone wants a person in their corner when the case is complicated and it's theirs.
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Justin MoyVerified
Managing Director at EHF Mortgages
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Traditionally mortgage brokers were always the go-to for borrowers with issues, such as variable income, credit issues and hard to place cases, so this does have a feel of the late 90's again. Brokers need a good working experience of those more complex markets, typically they have been around for 15-20 years so have great working expertise, but many broker firms already specialise specifically in these difficult markets.

We have seen an increase of around 30% year-on-year in this type of residential cases, where poor credit and self-employed income have been a challenge. Having good BDM relationships with key lenders, and being able to ask them for an opinion on a case, is the perfect way to look for solutions, not excuses. There is that great sense of achievement when clients have been declined by their bank, and even other brokers; for most, there is a route to home ownership, assuming everything is affordable.

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Martin RaynerVerified
Financial Adviser at Compton Financial Services
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Technology is a brilliant enabler. But would you stake almost your entire financial future on AI getting a mortgage right — with nobody to blame if it does not? For first-time buyers especially, that is terrifying.

AI answers facts. It does not hold your hand. Clients still pick the lowest rate, not the cheapest deal once fees are in, that can cost a thousand pounds. After they secure a rate, how many keep checking if the lender dropped further? That is why we do not see a huge drop-off. Our fees are low; over £500,000 we do not charge.

Specialist work is rising for us — bridging, development, complex cases. We use automation to speed the process, not to replace human thought — each case is different. Not every broker can pile into specialist finance. If you specialise, thinnk about getting the Certified Practitioner in Specialist Property Finance.

The risk alone means brokers are not being replaced. You would not gamble on AI picking the perfect holiday so why the perfect mortgage?
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Tracey DixonVerified
Buy-to-Let Mortgage Specialist & Owner at Pure Mortgage and Protection
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I did not move further into buy-to-let and portfolio work because I feared automation. I did it because landlords’ circumstances and strategies increasingly require judgement that a portal cannot provide.

I recently helped a landlord whose case fitted a lender’s calculator, yet that route could not provide the full amount needed. By understanding the wider portfolio, rental income and longer-term plans, I was able to reassess the market and identify a suitable alternative. An automated journey can process the figures entered, but it will not always know which questions to ask next when the obvious answer fails.

Specialist finance should not be treated as an easy refuge from technology. It requires deeper criteria knowledge, strong lender relationships and careful packaging. Technology can remove administration and improve straightforward journeys, which is positive. However, when a case sits outside the neat boxes, human judgement and accountability remain essential.
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Thomas BoughtonVerified
Founder at Artillium Real Estate Finance
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I’m of course biased, but I think if AI was going to storm the mortgage industry and make brokers redundant, it would have happened already. AI is now capable of scanning lending criteria across lenders and pointing you towards a bank that, on paper, appears likely to accept a mortgage application. Yet, despite this, we haven’t seen a mass of brokers become redundant. I don’t think there’s much more AI can do that poses an immediate, significant threat. The reality is that most people are trusting someone to arrange the biggest debt of their life. They want reassurance, accountability and someone they can actually speak to.

If AI gets it wrong, there’s nobody to call and nobody to blame. AI is undoubtedly making the job less labour-intensive and more efficient for brokers - and that’s exactly how I believe it should be used - as a tool instead of a replacement.
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Lewis MaxwellVerified
Director at Adviser IQ
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I'm seeing more and more advisers and firms moving towards the likes of Commercial and Bridging, as they fear AI will eventually wipe out the existance of your vanilla mortgages.

As someone who has embedded AI into all processes in our system, there's still an element of human touch needed, as AI lacks complete emotion, and sometimes that's needed. Automation is great, but only in the sense that it speeds up the painful processing parts, not to replace regular touch points.
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Iain ThompsonVerified
Director at Evolve Finance
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While digital automation is reshaping mainstream lending, the idea that residential brokers can seamlessly pivot into specialist finance is a major misconception. Our experience shows that while 50% might attempt specialist Buy-to-Let, only a tiny fraction will touch complex bridging, and virtually none will handle development finance.

The barrier isn't just technical knowledge; it is the absolute absence of deep lender relationships. Mainstream algorithms cannot process a complex case, and a broker cannot succeed without years of earned credit credibility and human underwriter trust.

We recently handled a portfolio restructuring where a digital scorecard automatically declined the applicant based on asset distribution. It required manual, human negotiation with a specialist lender to structure bespoke debt tiers, proving specialist finance remains an artisan trade that technology cannot replicate.