12 August 2014 | By Devraj Ray
Brokers say data revealing continued growth in approvals shows lenders are beginning to overcome the “teething problems” in the immediate aftermath of the Mortgage Market Review.
Lenders’ service levels dipped considerably in the weeks after the MMR came into effect on 26 April, with some taking up to three weeks to assess an application.
But figures published yesterday show total approvals grew 2 per cent year-on-year in June, from 81,800 to 84,100, although the number of remortgage loans continued to fall, with approvals shrinking 8 per cent annually.
Brokers says the figures indicate lenders are beginning to get to grips with the new regulatory environment.
Chadney Bulgin mortgage partner Jonathan Clark says: “I think what the approvals data shows is that over the last couple of months, those teething problems that we experienced are slowly being overcome. Some lenders really struggled with their own IT systems at first and thankfully that problem seems to be abating.
“From what we’ve seen, borrowers are getting clued up as well and that will all contribute to increasing volumes.”
Coreco director Andrew Montlake adds: “I think we’ve seen the early issues dispensed with. Most lenders seem to be coming to terms with the new regulations and systems so we should hopefully be getting back to business as usual.
“We’ve already seen lenders cutting rates as well so things are certainly looking up.”