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Brokers - what has 2023 been like so far?

Journalist: John Fitzsimons, Freelance

ended 21. March 2023

Morning brokers

Hope you're all well

We are almost a quarter of the way through 2023 now, so would love to get your thoughts on how the year has been so far. Have there been any particular trends among borrower/lender behaviour that have stood out in the year so far?

And are there any indications for what lay ahead in 2023 from this opening quarter?

All thoughts are very welcome

9 responses from the Newspage community

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Aaron Strutt
Product and Communications Director at Trinity Financial
Brokers are glad mortgage rates have come down and that they are significantly cheaper than they were. Also that market activity has picked up although it is not at the levels we have been used to in recent years.
There does seem to be a lot going on in the economy which is in turn hitting consumer confidence and the property market. Bank of England base rate hikes, possible house price reductions, higher mortgage rates, failing banks and takeovers, plus talk of a recession, all certainly do not help.
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Imran Hussain
Director at Harmony Financial Services
2023 started slow for many, but with rates now stabilising, I now see enquiries start to uptick, some looking to move for the summer, others looking to move right away, but I have said 2023 will be a challenging year for the market with the amount of volatility in the markets with interest rates.
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Riz Malik
Independent Financial Adviser at R3 Wealth
The UK mortgage market started the year on a high note, with purchase enquiries exceeding initial expectations. Mortgage renewals are currently in high demand, as many clients are nearing the end of their deals and want to explore their options. When clients see the current rates, they are taken aback, and we have to remind them that the current economic climate is vastly different. However, I believe that interest rates may have reached a plateau, which could stimulate the market and lead to an increase in purchasing activity in the coming months.

Despite the market's positive trajectory, landlords are still confronted with high arrangement fees and rising mortgage rates. I remain optimistic that the market will improve in the coming months as the inflation numbers fall.
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Jamie Alexander
Mortgage Director at Alexander Southwell Mortgages
Having spent a decade in the mortgage industry, we experienced one of our slowest months in December.

However, since the year began, the situation has been quite the opposite, with January, February, and March recording increased figures compared to the previous year.

A notable observation since the start of the year is that clients seem to exercise more caution when making property offers, and lenders are now asking more questions, causing minor delays in processes, which are not significant in the grand scheme of things.

Hopefully, this is an indication for what lay ahead in 2023, with rates decreasing emails over the last few days it is looking very positive.
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Luke Thompson
Director at PAB Wealth Management
Buyers have been much more cautious at the start of the year and I have noticed that sellers are not achieving the prices they would have been hoping for previously.

As an adviser the start of the year has been better than I expected it to be. I wouldn't say that the market is buoyant but it is far more positive than I had expected it to be. I think the remainder of the year will continue on in this vein especially if there are no further base rate rises following the Silicon Valley Bank and Credit Suisse issues over the past few weeks.

As long as inflation continues to fall I think 2023 could be much more positive than it looked like it would be at the end of 2022.
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Scott Taylor-Barr
Principal Adviser at Barnsdale Financial Management
2023 has felt a little more "normal" following the chaos of the pandemic and post-pandemic market. The seismic shift in people WFH and the SDLT holiday caused a huge spike in purchase activity that tested every part of the system; brokers, lenders and conveyancers. Just when we felt that storm was passing, along came the now infamous "min-budget" and chaos reigned again, but this time for those looking to remortgage; coming off a sub-2% rate into a sharply rising interest rate environment saw people having to face the prospect of the best option being a fixed deal at over 5%, or taking on the additional risk of a variable rate option for the first time. So I for one am enjoying the relative calm and return to more normal volumes and pace, which allows me to deliver better service to my clients and spend more time with them.
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Gary Boakes
Director at Verve Financial
Better than expected, after the last few years, the start of 2023 was always going to seem slower in comparison but with rates finally starting to settle and not being so up and down this is having a positive impact and people that disappeared from the market in October are starting to re-look.
Remortage customers from 2 years ago are now wishing they took a 5 year fixed and the majority seem to want to take the short term hit for the higher 2 year fixed rates and hope rates drop in 2 years, those that are thinking the drop will come quicker and less risk adverse are edging their bets on the trackers and being able to switch sooner. The lenders are certainly looking to keep their existing business with product transfer rates in most instances being more attractive than switching to a new lender.
As inflation falls we will start to see moves to lower the base rate which will have a positive impact on rates and should see sub 3% next year.
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Austyn Johnson
Founder at Mortgages For Actors
So far, 2023 has been amazing! we were all expecting some real struggles this year, or at least the first half. However, we shouldnt have wasted time thinking about it, we have been so busy, we are taking on more staff (get in touch), and work has just been flooding in. We are a unique sector, which may be the reason, but when I see brokers being laid off across the board, it really makes me wonder how close to the wire those businesses were running. The rest of 2023, we predict more of the same, but with a better stable type of advice process, with rates being held a bit longer.
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Kim McGinley
Director & Specialist Broker at VIBE Finance
After a mega quiet end of 2022, it was so good to get busy again in January. Whilst it seemed we were quoting left right and centre, the cases gaining traction and receiving our documents in seemed to take forever. Wind forward to February and it's looking so much more positive which has rolled on to March. Difficult when quoting still as you are providing so many options factoring in different arrangement fees and rate types. Clients are diversifying and we are seeing many move into the bridging space by purchasing properties that require modernisation so that they can benefit from an uplift in value. Lender timescales have settled as they went hay wire in Q4 of 2022 and so nice to be getting cases moving again as they seemed to take forever at one point!
The doom & gloom of 2022 seems to be behind us but we're treading carefully still and we know anything could be around the corner but for now, its positive VIBE's from us and we're looking to to the rest of 2023!