It would be hard to find anyone in the Western world who has not head of the credit crunch by now. So much has been written and spoken about one of the biggest financial disasters in history that it seems almost as though society has become engulfed in it. Some of the largest financial institutions in the world have either closed or are at risk of failure while Governments in many first world countries have begun pouring billions of dollars into the financial markets in an attempt to avert complete disaster.
While there are many culprits that should bear some responsibility for the credit crunch many commentators have pinned a large portion of the blame on mortgage brokers. While this has no doubt tarnished the name of those who peddle home loans at least in the short term, brokers also face the challenge of selling a type of product that is in short supply – mortgages.
Whatever the ultimate cause of the credit crunch, it is safe to say that mortgage brokers the world over have endured hardships during these troubled times. It is true that brokers were making enviable livings during the height of the property boom however the pendulum has swung and many home loan advisors are now struggling to stay afloat.
In fact many brokers have packed their bags and left the industry already, unable to cope with the sharp decline in income resulting from the withdrawal of thousands of mortgage products from the market in just a few months. It is argued that mortgage advisors who ran successful businesses before the credit crunch have survived and should continue to do so, and that most brokers who have gone out of business were new to the market and only had a small clientele, suggesting that perhaps some sort of a Darwinian natural selection process has occurred.
Regardless, the industry has gone from riches to rags in a short time prompting many to wonder whether it has a future. The short answer appears to be yes. The majority of brokers who were trading before the credit crunch are still trading and the mortgage market seems to have bottomed out. While it still has a few years of recovery left to go it has certainly not suffered so much of a downturn that the entire mortgage broking profession is at risk.
So what does the future hold for the humble mortgage broker? The profession relies heavily on the prosperity of the property market and the lending market so in order to predict the future of the mortgage advisor it is necessary to assess these markets and attempt to draw some conclusions.
The Property Market
The property market has recently experienced one of the biggest booms in recorded history. Only a few years ago punters were being lured into investing their hard earned cash into property markets in locations as exotic as islands in the Caribbean to the Ukraine. The UK property market boomed in the late 90s and early 2000s and was regarded as highly overpriced as early as 2003. The average price of property had risen to almost ridiculous heights during this period of time but British punters looking to provide for their futures were hungry for more.
Michael Sterios is a writer for http://www.ukmortgagesource.co.uk
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