Most Australian homebuyers now use mortgage brokers. So banks are changing how they sell home loans.
Nearly two-thirds of new home loans come via mortgage brokers. The economics stack up, just not for bank margins.
Australian banks have conceded — and to a degree encouraged — a growing, structural market share shift in the mortgage market to brokers.
And that trend is accelerating.
According to Morgan Stanley, broker channels now account for an average of around 59% of Australian mortgage flow at the major banks, compared with around 47% in the second half of 2019. At the turn of the century, brokers accounted for about one in 10 loan originations.
But rather than directly win back that share they initially haemorrhaged in the 90s, the banks are working on improving the economics of the broker relationship and shifting their own, proprietary offerings to purely digital channels.
That reflects reality. Even if they tried, the banks can’t replicate the high-touch, one-to-one service model the brokers offer, said Jefferies analyst Matt Wilson.
