Mortgage brokers wrote 69.6% of all new residential home loans between January and March 2023, breaking former records for the March quarter that were set in 2022 and 2021.
According to the latest data from research group Comparator, commissioned by the MFAA, the results represented a 0.1 percentage point increase on the March quarter in 2022.
This was significantly higher than the 57.5% market share reached in the March 2021 quarter.
In the March 2023 quarter, mortgage brokers settled $78.59 billion in home loans, which was a 10.8 percentage point decrease compared year-on-year to the $88.10bn settled in March 2022.
MFAA CEO Anja Pannek (pictured above) said the results indicated that mortgage brokers remained crucial in providing homebuyers and those refinancing access to choice and competition.
“Mortgage brokers help homebuyers understand their options in what is a complex and dynamic mortgage lending environment,” Pannek said.
“The current environment of inflationary pressures, multiple increases to the cash rate and rising cost of living is adding to this complexity, and has really brought the service mortgage brokers provide in guiding their clients into the fore.”
Pannek said this year more than 800,000 fixed term home loans with very low rates would be rolling onto much higher interest rates, while climbing interest rates were limiting the borrowing capacity for new borrowers, making it a “challenging period for many mortgage holders and prospective buyers”.
“It’s times like this when Australians need expert support to make the best decision for their circumstances, and mortgage brokers are meeting this need every day,” she said.
Comparator, a CoreLogic business, compiles the broker statistics by calculating the value of loans settled by 18 of the leading brokers and aggregators as a percentage of ABS Housing Finance commitments.
