Our audiences: Brokers

From its modest beginnings in the late 1980s, the mortgage and finance broker industry has grown to account for around 52 per cent of new home lending in Australia, becoming the preferred choice for the nation’s homebuyers and investors.

Finding the most suitable loan for property buyers remains a core focus for mortgage and finance brokers, yet as consumers’ financial needs have expanded and become increasingly complex in recent years, so too has their need for professional guidance.

It’s in this space that mortgage and finance brokers have grown their businesses, providing an increasingly diverse and sophisticated array of products and services to their clients.

Typical value-added services and products include insurance, personal loans, financial advice and commercial finance, giving brokers the opportunity to build deeper, broader and less transactionally-orientated relationships with their clients.

The industry’s maturation has also been reflected in the regulatory sphere, with the shift to ASIC oversight giving the sector increased credibility and boosting its standing as a professional services sector.

As the mortgage and finance broker sector has grown in popularity, so too has its importance as a distribution channel for the nation’s big four banks – CBA’s purchase of a stake in Aussie Home Loans, and NAB’s ownership of three of the country’s largest mortgage broker aggregators, are evidence of this.

Australians’ continued love affair with property, combined with mortgage brokers’ broader and increasingly popular service proposition, gives the industry a solid foundation for growth in the years ahead.