The surge in remortgage applications was closely followed by next-time buyer business, with 25% of intermediaries doing more business in this area, 19% handling buy-to-let cases and 17% helping first-time buyers get onto the property ladder.

Intermediaries reported that, on average, 16.1 mortgages were introduced per adviser in Q3, down from 16.7 in Q2.

On buy-to-let finance availability, 36% of intermediaries said they had seen an improvement , 45% said it remained the same and 17% thought availability had deteriorated in Q3.

More than half (57%) said they expect availability to stay the same in the next 12 months.

In terms of activity among landlords, 42% of cases handled by intermediaries related to landlords looking to expand their portfolios. The second most popular reason for obtaining a buy-to-let mortgage was landlords who wanted to remortgage, at 28%.

When asked for their views on landlord demand, 46% of intermediaries described demand as stable, while 24% thought demand was strong.

John Heron, managing director of Paragon Mortgages, said:

“Intermediaries have reported on an interesting quarter. Whilst business in some areas of the mortgage market such as buy-to-let, have been growing others are relatively stagnant and intermediaries appear cautious about the coming months.

“We are likely to continue to see buy-to-let cases increasing at a steady level but I suspect that cases handled by intermediaries for first-time buyers will remain limited.”