Mortgage market troubles to continue in 2009 says AMI

In its latest research published today, ‘The Credit Crunch – One Year On. Adapting to a Changing Mortgage Market’, the body said lending for 2008 would be roughly £55bn.

AMI said the effect on intermediary business means average incomes are set to fall by up to 30% or 40% in 2008, stay flat in 2009, before beginning to recover.

Chris Cummings, director general of AMI, said the impact of the credit crunch was likely to be felt much longer and deeper than was expected 12 months ago. He explained: “Despite the intervention of the US administration and recent moves by the UK Government, the housing and mortgage markets are not likely to recover in the short term. AMI is committed to doing all we can to ensure we have a healthy industry.

Cummings added: “In the short term, we will see a smaller, leaner industry but the remaining firms will have the best staff and will be stronger and better diversified. Diversification will be key. Last September, 71% of larger firms had activities beyond mortgage broking alone. By March, 85% did. We want to assist firms to make the necessary changes to survive in the new look market place.”