The Mortgage & Finance Association of Australia has released the latest edition of its Industry Intelligence Service report, which provides comprehensive information on mortgage and finance industry trends.
The MFAA IIS 18th edition report, covering the six-month period between 1 October 2023 and 31 March 2024, draws on data from nine of the industry’s leading aggregators.
Brokers remain the preferred channel of choice for borrowers seeking a home loan, with brokers responsible for 74.1% of all new residential home loan settlements, the highest result observed as at 31 March 2024. This figure was surpassed by the latest Quarterly Market Share report, which showed share of 74.6% for the September 2024 quarter.
Settlement volumes also remained strong. Brokers settled $357.99 billion in new home loans in the 12 months to 31 March 2024. This is the second highest value of new home loans settled over a 12-month period to date, and the third time that settlements have surpassed $350 billion.
MFAA chief executive officer Anja Pannek said it was clear from the report that mortgage and finance brokers continue to thrive in a dynamic and challenging lending market.
“The role brokers continue to play in providing choice and competition is important, and demand for their services will only continue to grow as market conditions are expected to ease in the coming months,” said Ms Pannek.
The number of brokers in the industry grew by 2,575 to 22,031, a rise of 13.2% for the 12 months ended 31 March 2024, the highest broker population to date.
Other highlights of the report include growth in commercial lending and female participation in the industry.
More mortgage brokers are writing commercial loans. In the period between October 2023 and March 2024, 6,755 brokers wrote commercial loans, an increase of 19.47% on the previous period and up 15.19% year-on-year. The value of commercial loans settled by mortgage brokers reached its highest value, up 23.12% to $20.31 billion year-on-year.
Ms Pannek said it was great to see more brokers diversifying their skills and embracing the opportunities to service a greater range of customer needs by offering commercial lending, as well as asset and equipment and business finance.
In the reporting period, the total number of female brokers reached 3,749, the highest level since April to September 2018. This represents an increase of 5.69% since the previous reporting period (April to September 2023) and 16.86% year-on-year. However, compared to the overall broker population, the percentage of female brokers stood steady at 26.7%, down 0.2 percentage points year-on-year.
The number of new female recruits also fell in both volume and proportion period-on-period.
Ms Pannek said the growth is encouraging, however, there is still a long way to go to boost the proportion of female brokers overall. “The industry needs to work together to better promote the benefits of a career in broking for women, including the flexibility of running your own business,” Ms Pannek said.
Conversion rates also declined for the third consecutive period to 76.3%, representative of ongoing challenges with serviceability. There was a turnaround in major banks’ market share when it came to broker-originated lending. It rose 2.8 percentage points to 40.1% for the March 2024 quarter, the first time in six months it had surpassed 40%.
However, the share of broker-originated lending from lenders other than the majors and their affiliates also rose, increasing 2 percentage points year-on-year to 40% in the March 2024 quarter, further demonstrating the healthy competition brokers generate.
You can read the full MFAA IIS 18th edition report here.
Additional information
After eight years of producing the IIS report in partnership with CoreLogic business Comparator and as technology evolves, the MFAA believes it is timely to review this critical resource and ensure that it is fit for purpose for industry needs.
To ensure we are providing the most accurate data, we will be reviewing some elements of the IIS report, so readers may notice some differences in the 18th edition and going forward.
