After years of volatility, 2025 delivered a steadier mortgage market – albeit one that still demanded hard work from advisers
After several turbulent years, 2025 marked a period of relative stabilisation for the mortgage market – but not without its pressures. Brokers report that while enquiry levels and client confidence have generally improved since the shock of the 2022–23 mini Budget era, progress has often felt hard‑won amid political noise, regulatory change and shifting borrower expectations. Two industry voices – Mortgage Success’ Tony Higham and SimplyBiz Chief Executive Martin Reynolds – share how the year really felt on the front line, and what they want to see next.
Budget impacts demand
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For many brokers, the defining moment of 2025 wasn’t the Budget itself, but the anticipation around it.
Tony Higham says the weeks of speculation ahead of the Autumn Budget had a clear and immediate impact on borrower behaviour.
“I think the Budget, or the run up to the budget [and] the constant speculation [around it] really dampened demand,” he says. “The Budget itself was quite mild and enquiries picked up afterwards, but in the 4-6 weeks beforehand there was a noticeable drop in new enquiries.”
That pause, he suggests, underlines just how sensitive borrowers remain to political noise and policy uncertainty, even in a calmer rate environment.
From ‘mini Budget fallout’ to cautious confidence
Despite those pre‑Budget nerves, Higham sees 2025 as another step away from the chaos triggered by the mini Budget in 2022–23 and towards a more normalised market.
“We are seeing an increase in enquiries, people appear to be a little happier to stretch themselves and generally confidence is improving,” he explains.
Volumes may not have fully recovered to their pandemic‑era peaks, but the direction of travel is encouraging.
“As a business we have not quite got back to 2021 numbers, but things are going in the right direction I feel,” Higham adds.
‘A very good year – but hard work getting there’
Martin Reynolds, Chief Executive at SimplyBiz, offers a similar blend of optimism and realism.
“When talking to our members 2025 can best be summed up as a very good year when you just review the numbers, but it was hard work getting there,” he says.
The constant push and pull of macroeconomic news, evolving product ranges and regulatory change kept advisers on their toes.
“There is always something happening in the market or externally that affects the mortgage market which is what makes it so fascinating but also challenging at the same time,” Reynolds notes.
On the regulatory front, he highlights the sheer volume of material coming from the watchdog.
“The Regulator has released a plethora of papers this year that we are still digesting or feeding back on that have made us think about the direction of advice over the next few years.”
Government urged to ‘back off’ and let the market stabilise
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While brokers have welcomed some pro‑affordability measures and product innovation, there is clear fatigue with constant policy intervention.
Higham argues that five years of near‑continuous government tweaks have created an unhelpful stop‑start pattern.
“The last five years has seen a lot of input from the government,” he says. “From stamp duty alterations, HTB changes, RTB changes and so on, more recently we have seen relaxation of affordability and income multiples.”
His message to policymakers is straightforward.
“My personal view is that the government need to just back off and leave the market to stabilise and do its own thing,” he says. “Every time they make changes it causes a surge followed by a lull or vice versa. The market is not perfect, but creating artificial markets does not help anyone in the long term.”
Advice demand set to strengthen – and evolve
Looking ahead, Reynolds believes the regulatory agenda will ultimately reinforce the central role of advice, even if it changes how firms engage with clients.
“As we get further clarity in 2026, I believe that the need for advice will become stronger but that consumers will become more educated prior to engagement so how we interact with them will change,” he says.
A more informed, digitally savvy customer base – combined with an increasingly complex product landscape – could create both challenge and opportunity for advisers.
“I always remain positive and 2026 will again be a good year,” Reynolds adds. “Cessations are the largest we have seen, the purchase market will grow, even if only slightly and technology will start to make the adviser journey easier.”
2026: steady growth over quick fixes
Taken together, Higham and Reynolds paint a picture of a market that has moved on from crisis‑mode but still feels every policy announcement and regulatory paper keenly.
On the ground, brokers are reporting more enquiries and rising confidence, even if volumes remain below their pre‑2022 peaks and every case still demands careful handling. At the macro level, trade body leaders see room for modest purchase growth, technology‑driven efficiency gains and an even stronger case for expert advice as regulation beds in.
The message from the front line is clear: let the market breathe, stop engineering artificial peaks and troughs, and give brokers and borrowers a stable platform to plan on. If policymakers can resist the urge to tinker, 2026 could build on 2025’s “hard‑won” progress rather than reset it all over again.
