Advisers report growing business levels

Financial advisers reported growing business levels in the final quarter of 2015, Paragon has found.

Financial advisers reported growing business levels in the final quarter of 2015, Paragon has found.

In Q4 the average number of mortgages introduced per person rose from 22.7 to 25.2 – an 11% increase that puts business volumes at their highest since 2008.

John Heron, director of mortgages at Paragon, said: “Looking forward an overwhelming majority of financial advisers expect business to either grow or remain stable over the coming quarter.

“Advisers have also seen strong growth in buy-to-let in recent months but it is no surprise that they expect the market to cool a little going forward given the policies being adopted by the government.”

Q4 also saw the preference for fixed rate products grow for the fourth consecutive quarter with mortgage advisers recommending a fixed rate product to more than eight out of every 10 customers.

Of these products nearly half (48.1%) were fixed for two years, while around a third (33.1%) were fixed for five years.