Mortgage Lender Benchmark H1 2024: The results

Today we’ve released the twelfth edition of our Mortgage Lender Benchmark, covering broker opinions on UK mortgage lenders for the first half of 2024.

The overall average lender satisfaction rating is 83.7%, which is up 0.8% on H2 2023. This figure is the highest ever recorded in our Mortgage Lender Benchmark, and suggests that lenders have continued to deliver good service to brokers, with the recent market turbulence starting to ease. The average Net Promoter Score (NPS) improved by an impressive 6.5 points to +38.7, which is again the highest figure ever recorded in the study.

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 950 mortgage brokers on 111 lenders.

Key findings from our Mortgage Lender Benchmark H1 2024

Overall satisfaction with lenders has increased by 0.8% to 83.7%

Net Promoter Score (NPS) is up 6.5 points at +38.7. Scores ranged from -83.6 to +84.4 for the lenders in the report

Building societies are once again the top-rated sector for broker satisfaction, up 1% to 85.7%

Broker ratings for banks are up 0.4% to 82.7%

Broker ratings for specialist lenders are up 0.9% to 80.4%

Broker ratings for lifetime lenders are up 1.9%, now at 85.5% and only just behind building societies

Broker satisfaction with relationship managers has increased, up 0.6% to 82.1%

Top broker rated lenders for H1 2024:

Top bank: Atom Bank

Top building society: Principality Building Society

Top buy to let lender: InterBay

Top specialist lender: Pepper Money

Top lifetime lender: Pure Retirement

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

“The increased confidence across the mortgage sector experienced so far in 2024 is very much reflected in our latest Mortgage Lender Benchmark and shows that lenders have met increased demand and volumes positively across the board.

“A significant increase in the overall NPS score from H2 2023 is also a key indicator that the general levels of broker satisfaction with lenders is good. The lifetime sector deserves special mention as their NPS is up 18.7 from the last report.”

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 slightly dipped to 82.9% in H2 2023, the overall broker satisfaction for H1 2024 is now at 83.7%, up 0.8% and the highest figure ever recorded.

The highest lender in our report had an overall rating of 95.7%, and the lowest was 40.9%.

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.

Overall satisfaction for building societies was up 1% to 85.7%. They still have the highest levels of broker satisfaction of any sector, which we’ve seen throughout the last twelve editions of our Benchmark.

All sectors are up in H1 2024, with lifetime lenders seeing their average rating improve to 85.5%, only marginally behind building societies.

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 2024 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 2024 version is the twelfth edition of the report, which started in H2 2018.

The report captured feedback from over 950 mortgage 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.

Data on 111 lenders was captured as part of the study and 58 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.