Young professional brokers are more satisfied with their career choice than before. For ‘Young Professionals’, staying up-to-date with changes in lender and product policy, and changes in compliance and regulatory requirements are a challenge. And young brokers are joining the industry from a more diverse range of sources, including more joining straight from higher education. These are some of the key findings from the MFAA's latest Young Professionals Report.
According to the MFAA's latest Industry Intelligence Service Report, it is estimated that there are record numbers of mortgage brokers across Australia, new lending originated by mortgage brokers has grown to record levels, and brokers now write a historical high of over 55% of all residential loans.
But at the same time, average gross earnings-per-broker are down, and the growth rate in new loans settled in dollar-terms (5.7%) is only comparable with the growth of the broker population (5.8%).
These are interesting statistics at a time of unprecedented industry scrutiny.
For this reason, it's now more important than ever that the younger generation of brokers are counted, and in partnership with Connective, the MFAA has published its latest Young Professionals Report, 2017/18, to determine what motivates young professionals, and their challenges, aspirations and outlooks.
Download the report here.
The Young Professionals Report investigates the perspectives of young professionals across four key areas - Path to the industry, Settling in to the industry, Success as a broker and Future of the industry, by looking at the results from the recent MFAA Young Professionals survey (October 2017) in the context of commentary from the MFAA’s Young Professionals panel.
The latest report found that:
• The main path for Young Professionals joining the industry was from ‘financial institutions, such as banks and non-bank lenders’ followed by white-collar non-finance-related industries. But the report also noted that over time, young professionals were joining the industry from an increasingly diverse range of other industries.
• ‘Income growth potential’ was a stand-out motivator for young professionals, but compared to the previous survey, the number of responses had dropped significantly.
• Like their over-35 counterparts, the young professionals biggest challenge was reported as ‘lead generation and marketing’ – suggesting it’s the industry’s top challenge.
• Two-thirds of young professionals felt they needed more support in ‘marketing, branding and lead generation’. They then felt they needed more support in developing their referrals and enhancing their sales skills.
• Retrospectively, the young professional’s biggest regrets were not becoming brokers earlier.
• The young professionals see a mixed future, characterised by growth amidst a changing and evolving environment. They see the industry growing as broker numbers increase, matched by lenders’ greater reliance on the broker channel, and by customers’ continuing need to meet face-to-face. This is within the context of ever-increasing regulatory and compliance scrutiny.
Mark Haron, Director at Connective, noted that, "A key highlight for me was the fact that the top attribute of being a good young professional broker today is a focus on customer experience. It’s so positive to see that good consumer outcomes are front and centre with these young brokers. That focus, alone, is why this profession will continue to thrive."
Access the Young Professionals Report 2017/18 to view the full findings here.
