Mortgage Lender Benchmark H1 2023: The results

Today we’ve released the tenth edition of our Mortgage Lender Benchmark, covering mortgage broker opinions on UK mortgage lenders for the first half of 2023.

Our latest results show a swift recovery in brokers’ opinion across H1 2023, as lenders bounce back after the interest rate rises and turbulence from the September 2022 ‘mini-budget’, stabilising their offerings and operational processes.

The results form part of our twice-yearly Mortgage Lender Benchmark, which analyses the state of the mortgage industry according to brokers’ views. The latest edition comprises feedback from over 770 mortgage brokers on 113 lenders.

Key findings from our Mortgage Lender Benchmark H1 2023

• Overall satisfaction with lenders has increased, up 4.0% to 83.4%
• Net Promoter Score (NPS) is up 12.9 points on H2 2022 at +34.4. Scores ranged from -46.6 to 68.4 for the lenders in the report
• Building societies are once again the top-rated sector for broker satisfaction, having gone up 3.1% to 85.7%
• Specialist lenders have seen the biggest improvement, up 7.0% to 82.0%
• Broker ratings for lifetime lenders are up 3.6%, now at 80.2%
• Not all brokers feel prepared for Consumer Duty, with 29% saying they aren’t ready, and 3.7% unsure

Top broker rated lenders for H1 2023:

• Top bank: Halifax
• Top building society: West Brom Building Society
• Top buy to let lender: HSBC
• Top specialist lender: Pepper Money
• Top lifetime lender: Canada Life

Commenting on the findings, Jacqueline Dewey, CEO of Smart Money People said:

“Despite the almost constant volatility and pressures across all aspects of the mortgage process, I find the results in our tenth edition of the Mortgage Lender Benchmark encouraging. They show a commitment by lenders, whatever the market conditions, to deliver a great service and experience to brokers and their customers.

"Since our H1 2023 survey was conducted, we’ve seen yet another state of flux with questions raised about how lenders interact and communicate with brokers around rate changes. It’ll be interesting to see how that’s reflected in our H2 2023 study, with the results announced late Q4 2023.”

Overall ratings for mortgage lenders

We asked brokers to give a score for satisfaction on a scale of one to five, for each of the last five mortgage lenders they’ve attempted to place a case with. This gave us an overall picture of broker satisfaction in the market, and for the individual lenders.

After satisfaction went down to 79.3% in H2 2022, the lowest level recorded outside of the pandemic, overall broker satisfaction for H1 2023 is now up to 83.4%.

The highest lender in our report had an overall rating of 90.9%, and the lowest was 60.3%.

How the different mortgage sectors compare

When we analyse broker feedback, we split the UK mortgage lenders into four sectors. Banks, building societies, specialist lenders and lifetime lenders.

Building societies saw the smallest change in overall satisfaction, up 3.1% to 85.7%. However, they still have the highest levels of broker satisfaction of any sector, which we’ve seen throughout the last ten editions of our Benchmark.

Specialist lenders have seen the biggest increase in their metrics following a comparatively poor period. Overall satisfaction has increased by 7.0% to 82.0%.

Download a summary of the report now

To download a summary copy of the report or to purchase your full copy, head to our dedicated Mortgage Lender Benchmark H1 2023 page.

About the Mortgage Lender Benchmark

• The Mortgage Lender Benchmark is a bi-annual report released by Smart Money People in June and December each year.
• The H1 2023 version is the tenth edition of the report, which started in H2 2018.
• The report captured feedback from over 770 brokers.
• Mortgage brokers were asked to leave feedback on the last five lenders they’ve attempted to place a case with recently, as well as other providers they use within their mortgage business, and their comments on the mortgage market in general.
• The data capture period was 23 March – 12 May 2023.
• Data on 113 lenders was captured as part of the study and 53 lenders feature in the in-depth analysis
• Smart Money People analyses the comments that brokers provide when asked what they like or what could be improved for each lender. These are mapped across 20 themes to give a rich insight into how each lender is performing.