Firms that fail to adapt the technology will struggle, says fintech platform chief
The debate over whether artificial intelligence (AI) will displace mortgage brokers misses the point, according to Babek Ismayil (pictured top), founder and chief executive of housing and fintech technology platform OneDome. The more pressing question, he argues, is whether firms will adapt quickly enough to remain relevant as the broader homebuying process is transformed.
His comments follow a recent Financial Times analysis suggesting AI could fundamentally disrupt the mortgage advice sector. Ismayil does not dispute that AI will reshape the industry — but he challenges the premise that mortgage disruption is where the real change will occur.
"AI will not replace mortgage brokers," Ismayil said. "But it will replace firms that fail to adapt – firms that continue to think about mortgages in isolation rather than the broader customer journey. The future of mortgage advice is AI-enabled, not AI-replaced."
Ismayil points to the fact that mortgage intermediaries currently account for more than 90% of UK mortgage transactions — a share that has grown over the past decade, despite the long-standing availability of rate comparison tools and direct lender applications. Several well-capitalised businesses attempted to disrupt the sector directly, with limited success.
Read more: Can AI really replace mortgage brokers?
He also attributes this to a fundamental misreading of consumer behaviour. Borrowers, he argues, are not primarily optimising for rate. They are seeking certainty and confidence that a transaction will complete. The mortgage is one component of a fragmented process that also involves estate agents, conveyancers, surveyors, lenders and the Land Registry — each operating independently.
"The real customer truth is simple: people want to buy a home — not manage a mortgage broker, conveyancer, surveyor, insurer and estate agent separately," he said.
Accelerating the mortgage element alone, he contends, does not address the underlying dysfunction. "AI that makes the mortgage node 30% faster does not fix this," Ismayil said. "It optimises one piece of a broken system and leaves everything else untouched."
The solution, for him, is what he terms "integrated homebuying" — a model in which financing, legal services, surveys, insurance and transaction management are delivered through a single connected journey.
Ismayil is nonetheless cautious about the limits of automation. Purchasing a property involves legal complexity, emotional stakes and coordination across multiple parties — factors that, in his view, resist full AI-led management. Human expertise remains essential, particularly for reassurance, trust and problem-solving in non-standard situations.
"The winners of the next decade will not resist AI, nor will they try to remove humans from the equation entirely," he said. "They will combine human expertise, AI capability and integrated homebuying — because ultimately, the biggest opportunity is not disrupting mortgages. It is reinventing homebuying itself."
Want to be regularly updated with mortgage news and features? Get exclusive interviews, breaking news, and industry events in your inbox – subscribe to our FREE daily newsletter. You can also follow us on Facebook, X (formerly Twitter), and LinkedIn.
