Openwork is expecting to exceed £10bn of mortgage lending this year, after posting its best annual lending figures since 2009.
The network saw mortgage lending soar to £9.1bn in 2015 from £7.4bn in 2014, an increase of 23 per cent.
This represents its best lending performance for six years.
Openwork expects to increase lending partly through organic growth and partly through Just Mortgages, the financial advisory business of Spicerhaart, which is joining the network from L&G next month.
Just Mortgages, which will become Openwork’s largest mortgage-focused AR firm, with 130 advisers, currently serves Spicerhaart clients across estate agencies including Haart, Darlows, Felicity J Lord, Haybrook and Chewton Rose.
Paul Shearman, mortgage and protection proposition director of Openwork, said: “Last year was a fantastic year for mortgage lending at Openwork and our best annual performance since the crash.
“To have exceeded £9bn of lending – a substantial year-on-year uplift – is a significant achievement, and testament to both our advisers and the quality of our market-leading proposition.
“With this year shaping up to be an even better one, particularly with Just Mortgages about to join the network, we fully expect to have surpassed £10bn of lending by the end of 2016.”
Adviser View
Alan Lakey, adviser at Highclere, said: “Mortgage activity has been buoyant over the past 12 months with every indication, subject to Budget ravages, that it will continue.
“I imagine that Openwork’s target is realistic and achievable.”
