Mortgage brokers have become more resilient to the impact of coronavirus on their businesses as the Covid-19 pandemic has progressed, Paragon Bank research has found.

Paragon’s Financial Adviser Confidence Tracker (FACT) research in the final quarter of 2020 found that 68% of brokers said that their business would remain unaffected by the pandemic, up from 59% during Q2 of last year.

Nearly a quarter (23%) said their business would actually be stronger than before the start of the virus, up from 20% in the second quarter of the year.

Conversely, the proportion of brokers stating that they would have to scale back their business has reduced from 21% in Q2 2020 to 9% during the final three months of the year.

Richard Rowntree, Paragon Bank Managing Director of Mortgages, commented: “Our FACT survey shows that brokers have reported growing levels of resilience since the height of the first lockdown. During the early days of the pandemic, brokers were heading into the unknown, plus they were dealing with a complete lockdown of the housing market.

“The easing of that lockdown, combined with the demand for house purchase created by the Stamp Duty holiday, has meant brokers are far more confident about the longer-term prospects for their business. Many intermediaries will be busy focusing on getting clients’ deals over the line ahead of the 31 March deadline.”

Paragon’s survey of over 200 brokers also found that those reporting they are worried about the pandemic has fallen from a high of 66% in March to 46% in mid-December.