In a market defined by tight turnaround times, complex documentation and heightened regulatory scrutiny, the mortgage and property sector is under constant pressure to improve efficiency without compromising oversight.
In the following feature for this week’s ‘In Focus’ series revolving around AI, professionals from across the mortgage and property space share their views on where AI is already improving accuracy, reducing administrative burden and supporting better risk management, whilst also emphasising that human expertise remains indispensable.
Steve Lees, Associate Director at Countrywide Surveying Services, comments:
“AI is already with us and is going to continue to improve and evolve to help streamline processes and ensure we maintain compliance. This is helping to shift focus to create more available time to support consumers, enhance our offering and give much-needed space to look at our overall strategy to manage capacity and assist our people to focus on the skills they have.
It is also important that we are able to continue to provide the additional professional layer of oversight to maintain successful outcomes. For example, the ability to audit and hold higher risk cases before sending reports to clients is already providing confidence and consistency and that further layer of confidence.
Our governing body, the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (RICS), has provided a clear Professional Standard which understands that AI is only going to grow in importance, but ensures that by using AI, the processes should be treated with care.
The professional oversight and separatism we offer is paramount to give assurance for compliant reporting that will evolve with new legislation and expectations, and that skilled people remain vital in the process.
Deploying AI allows us to shift our focus from manual tasks, enhances the processes we can complete and will continue to allow us to quickly move our focus to mitigate risk in the future, if challenges present themselves.
AI has to be understood; just saying “we need an AI” won’t get the right outcome. We’re looking at our processes, risks and the problems we may need to resolve. So, understanding the business need and the right use of AI now and in the future is paramount.”
Neal Jannels, Managing Director at One Mortgage System:
“AI can deliver significant value in the mortgage and property investment sector by improving accuracy, efficiency, and the quality of decision-making, whilst keeping people at the centre of the process. Utilising AI for repetitive administrative tasks can allow more time for interacting with customers.
One of the most impactful uses is reducing errors through advanced data analysis. AI can review large volumes of financial information quickly and consistently, spotting patterns or anomalies that humans might miss and ensuring assessments are more reliable. When combined with OCR technology, AI can accurately read and interpret documents such as bank statements, payslips, and IDs, helping to flag missing information or potential issues much earlier in the journey.
AI is also ideal for supporting repetitive or time-consuming administrative tasks. As an assistant, it can summarise documents, organise client data, generate reports, and streamline workflows, freeing up team members to focus on tasks that require human judgement and experience.
AI should enhance, not replace, the personal interaction customers expect. Securing a mortgage or investing in property is one of the biggest financial commitments people make, and clients still want reassurance, empathy, and real human conversation. The true value of AI lies in empowering professionals, not replacing them.”
James Nightingall, founder of property search service HomeFinder AI, says:
“AI is an extremely useful tool to streamline and perfect the property search. We use artificial intelligence to identify the best-performing units within developments by analysing pricing, incentives, service charges and achieved rents. This process allows us to then match investors with assets based on objectives such as yield, capital growth, exit horizon and risk tolerance, rather than generic ‘investment’ labels.
This strategic use of AI helps investors make faster and more informed decisions about the long-term investment potential of a property, which ensures that their portfolio remains profitable. As UK property is becoming an increasingly complex investment vehicle amid taxes and new regulations for landlords, the need to stay ahead of the competition and on top of the market is greater than ever before. Bearing in mind the industry is only at the beginning of implementing artificial intelligence, the future potential and demand for AI-based solutions for property investors is both vast and promising.”
Paul Adams, Sales Director at Pepper Money:
“In a sector defined by complexity and heavy documentation, AI has the potential to deliver meaningful, immediate value by transforming the administrative workload that weighs on mortgage brokers and their support teams.
Intelligent automation can streamline tasks such as data collection, fact‑finding, suitability letters, case tracking, and document verification – tasks that currently consume hours of manual effort each day. By removing this friction, AI creates space for brokers to do what truly matters most: spend more time with clients, provide empathy during stressful financial decisions, and offer human judgement and reassurance that technology cannot replicate.
I believe AI isn’t here to take over the role of a broker, because there is so much value in the relationships they have with their customers and the support provided every day. In this way, AI becomes an enabler of better advice, better relationships, and ultimately better outcomes for customers.”
Matt Lowndes, Transformation Director – Customer Experience, Mortgage Advice Bureau:
“AI delivers real value when it’s used to strengthen the entire journey – not to replace advisers. The biggest impact comes from three areas: improving productivity, reducing risk, and keeping humans at the centre of the process. We talk about that constantly with advisers. AI shouldn’t make decisions in isolation – it should operate as embedded decision support, a ‘guardian angel’ layer that nudges cases forward, flags risk, and helps brokers avoid mistakes.
At the top of the journey, the human contact points remain critical – whether that’s direct conversations, customer portals, or email communications. Underneath that sits structured data. When those layers are working together properly, AI becomes an enabling layer across the whole process – not a bolt-on tool, but context-aware support that understands the full case.
That’s where the real power lies. AI can learn from historic behaviour, spot missed opportunities, trigger the right communications at the right time, and support lifecycle engagement – from mortgage monitoring to major life events. Used properly, it helps firms move beyond being purely transactional and become long-term partners: more productive, lower risk, and more customer-focused.”
