Demand for retirement planning and remortgaging

But for the first time in 2010 remortgage advice became the number one driver in December for consumers seeking whole of market mortgage advice.

Retirement planning has remained the number one searched for term for those seeking an independent financial adviser (IFA) for the whole of 2010. Across 2010 an average of 37% of all searches by consumers on unbiased.co.uk were for an IFA specialising in retirement planning, and this reached a peak of 42% in October last year.

Remortgage advice became the top advice driver in December, making up 35% of the total searches, with first time buying advice the second most searched for term on unbiased.co.uk's find a mortgage adviser site at 32%.

Karen Barrett, chief executive of unbiased.co.uk, commented: "Our find a mortgage adviser statistics for December 2010 suggest that interest rate rise predictions may already be having an impact on consumers with searches for remortgage advice reaching an all time high at the end of last year."