The Intermediary – December 2025 - Flipbook - Page 11
RESIDENTIAL
Opinion
DENCE FOR
RROWERS?
improvements in speed, certainty and
consumer experience.
While reforms will take time
to implement, the direction of
travel is clear: more digital identity
verification, beer-quality upfront
information, real-time data
sharing across the chain, and far
less duplication. For brokers, the
significance is twofold.
First, a more reliable transaction
process means fewer collapsed sales.
Brokers know beer than anyone
how frustrating it is when a fully
underwrien mortgage case falls
apart because of delays or breakdowns
elsewhere in the chain. Every failed
sale represents wasted work for
advisers and missed opportunities
for borrowers. Digitisation,
if implemented well, should
dramatically reduce this friction.
Second, a more streamlined
system frees advisers to spend more
time advising and less time chasing
paperwork, reissuing documents, or
managing client anxiety during long
periods of silence.
Housebuilders may also find 2026
more productive. The Planning and
Infrastructure Bill is expected to
receive Royal Assent early in the year,
which should help speed up approvals
and reduce legal bolenecks.
It will not transform supply
overnight – nothing can – but a more
responsive planning system will be
welcomed by brokers in high-demand
areas where buyer frustration has
been building for years.
Moving forward
Overall, the shape of 2026 looks
markedly more positive than anything
the market has seen since before the
mini-Budget shock of October 2022.
With lower rates, improving
affordability, clearer regulation, a
stable tax environment and the first
steps towards genuine modernisation
of the homebuying process, we
are entering the new year on
stronger ground.
There will still be challenges –
including property undersupply and
landlord arition – but the industry
finally has the one thing it has been
missing most: predictability. ●
December 2025 | The Intermediary
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