Progressive Provides Personal Touch in NI’s Busy Housing Market

After 35 years at Progressive Building Society, newly appointed Business Development Manager (BDM) Noel Murray knows a thing or two about Northern Ireland’s housing market.

After 35 years at Progressive Building Society, newly appointed Business Development Manager (BDM) Noel Murray knows a thing or two about Northern Ireland’s housing market.

A Belfast native, Noel started his career at Progressive when he was just 18, spending time at the Society’s Derry branch before taking up his new role as Business Development Manager with responsibility for members in the North West, Ballymena and Glengormley.

According to Noel, working across a wider network brings with it greater opportunity for one-on-one interaction with Progressive’s broker network, which he describes as a fundamental part of his new day-to-day role.  

“It’s been an exciting gear change but one I’ve really relished and enjoyed. From my role as Derry Branch Manager, where I had managed relationships with around 40 mortgage brokers amongst other tasks, to now working closely with anywhere between 140 and 180 brokers.”

Yet despite the changes, for Noel, it’s the personal touch that remains the order of the day.

“One of the Progressive’s teams USPs is that we are very personable and approachable, so I’m focusing on building relationships with brokers by developing a deep understanding of their individual and bespoke needs. As a result of that meaningful engagement, I’m already finding mortgage brokers I have met are bouncing more and more cases back off me, and as this is the main purpose of my new role, I get a real buzz out of growing Progressive’s mortgage book. It’s also one of my main ambitions in this role, so on a personal level, I’m determined to maintain that strong momentum.”

“What’s also great about the role is that you have that support from the branches and their teams, the Society works as a unit, spreading and utilising our resources.”

A long-time student of property trends, Noel provides a local lens onto Northern Ireland’s housing market for both members as well as brokers by providing insights on the market, including how products introduced by Progressive have responded to post-lockdown trends.

“At the outset of the pandemic, there was concern that housing prices were going to fall, and the market was going to slow down. As we know now, this was quite the opposite. With so many of us working and schooling from home, one of the big issues was the need for more space either indoors or outdoors.”

“At Progressive, we identified this need and developed a bespoke mortgage product for those wishing to maximise their current space: the renovation remortgage. It essentially allows members to remortgage with us, at no extra cost, enabling them to build their extensions, loft conversions or other space-creating projects. We’ve seen a real demand for this type of mortgage so there’s a lot of potential in this area of the market moving forward.”

Noel has experienced first-hand the strong levels of activity within Northern Ireland’s housing market in recent quarters, though it is Progressive’s personal touch which he believes sets the Society apart for members and brokers alike.

“A lot of our competitors focus so much on the online platform, and their customers have to deal with being put through to call centres and not getting in contact with the same people. We are unique in our roles as business development managers, as so much of the role is hands on and face to face. This is what helps put customers at ease, speed up areas of complex cases, and provide answers and solutions.”

Noel Murray is Business Development Manager for Progressive’s Northern Region and is one of three new BDMs at the Society alongside Lynne Lyness (Southern Region) and Gary Stanton (Greater Belfast).