Adviser Exchange:
Mortgage Rate Crisis

 

Market research to understand the mortgage broker perspective on the turmoil in the market following the mini budget in September 2022. 

 

Agile in-depth research using our Adviser Exchange community sounding board to understand broker challenges and requirements from lenders as the crisis unfolded.


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The challenge

Amid the turbulence and uncertainty in the mortgage market fuelled by September 2022's mini-budget with rising interest rates and a high proportion of products being withdrawn, our client wanted to understand:

 

• Broker behaviour in a crisis and repertoire of lenders used (e.g. is there a flight to safety - do they turn to the major lenders?); and

 

• What brokers (and their clients) need from lenders in terms of communication and service in uncertain times.

The approach

In-depth qualitative research through depth interviews with mortgage brokers active in the residential and buy-to-let mortgage market.

 

Interviews were extensive and covered the challenges being experience by brokers, changes to ways of working during the turbulence and what the key requirements were from lenders.

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The result

The research provided clear insight into the brokers' (and their clients') world at this crucial timepoint, including the key challenges faced in servicing existing clients, shifts in business mix, the lenders they turned to and changes in the mortgage application process. 

 

Outputs included detailed recommendations on the ideal broker servicing journey from communication to sales support, application, underwriting and processing.