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Four out of five brokers expect their business to boom in 2010, a new survey has found.
According to the latest Mortgage Business weekly straw poll, 79.1 per cent of the 354 respondents expect 2010 to be better than 2009 of which one in four believe the year ahead will be their best ever.
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Only 15.4 per cent thought this year would be worse than the previous year and 20 believe it will be their worst on record.
Mortgage Achievers director Mario Borg told Mortgage Business that he expects an upswing in business in 2010.
“I don’t know if it will be my best year to date, but I can definitely say that it will be better than 2009,” he said.
“We are starting to see a lot of people jump into property on the back of the various government initiatives. Also, people understand interest rates will inevitably return to more normal levels so they are buying properties now while the rates are still competitive.”
Brokerhouse director Paul Mazzella agreed that interest rates were currently having an impact on buyer sentiment.
“People realise that rates are still relatively low. They are certainly much lower than what they have been in the past. Many borrowers remember what interest rates used to be like, and an interest rate of 6 per cent these days is not bad,” he said.
Mr Mazzella is optimistic about the future of his business and expects 2010 to be a good year.
“Our business consistently increases each year. Whether our business increased last year because of factors like the first home owner’s boost, or other indicators, we found that our business performed quite well in the recovering economic climate and so we expect business to perform consistently well over the next six months.”
But OneSite Finance solutions director Elizabeth Setiawan was not so optimistic about the year ahead.
Ms Setiawan said her volumes had been trending downwards over the last six months, something she expects will continue heading into 2010.
“When I look back at the volumes I have averaged over the last six months, I only achieved half of my usual volume, which leads me to believe that business will not be as strong in 2010,” she told Mortgage Business.
