Mortgage middlemen are cashing in as property transactions boom and homeowners attempt to generate better terms on property deals.
Banks say that referrals from mortgage brokers and consultants are accounting for an increasing share of their business. This has convinced many mortgage intermediaries to increase staff numbers, even at a time when cash buyers account for the majority of transactions.
Before property prices started to tumble in Dubai in late 2008, customers were much less discerning about the small print of their mortgages, said Jean-Luc Desbois, the managing director of Home Matters, a mortgage consultancy. That has now changed.
“Consumers now are looking for better value for money,” he said. “Not just lower interest rates, but terms and conditions and exit fees.”
Home Matters is not the only intermediary which is growing in size as momentum builds in the property market.
Originally published in The National – September 15, 2013