Brokers take on advisory role

Posted: 19 May 2008 10:05:00 GMT

As the housing market takes a downturn, borrowers are looking to brokers to provide them with more advice on their choice of mortgage, research has revealed.

As the housing market takes a downturn, borrowers are looking to brokers to provide them with more advice on their choice of mortgage, research has revealed.

Alliance and Leicester found that three quarters of brokers felt that their role was becoming more advisory.

Raj Uppal, director of mortgages at Alliance & Leicester, explained that the high profile of economic issues is making borrowers more aware of the importance of making the right mortgage choice.

Mr Uppal said: "Instead of simply using a broker to source products, borrowers are now making the most of their advisory services to learn about affordability and extend their product understanding."

Of the 24 per cent of brokers that believe the added time resource has led to less immediate business, 64 per cent believe it will pay dividends in the future.

According to the research, affordability is top of the list of concerns amongst borrowers with over half of those questioned expressing concern over finances.

This research comes at the same time as certain mortgage lenders announce cuts in their rates to keep competitive. The Abbey National announced reductions in its flexible and tracker mortgages and to some of its fixed rate deals.

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