The Australian mortgage broking market
Property is a major asset in Australia and many people aspire to the dream of ‘owning their own home’. Many others build a property investment portfolio by adding another or multiple investment properties.
For the 12 months ending 30 June 2008, Mortgage Choice customers had $11 billion in loans approved. In the same period, the total mortgage market experienced strong growth in housing finance committments of 10.1% p.a. to $244.9 billion, according to figures compiled by the Australian Bureau of Statistics for its Housing Finance for Owner Occupation Report, 5609.0
Much has been written about the state of the housing market. Although we saw four cash rate rises in the last financial year, borrower demand remains healthy.
The growth prospects of the mortgage broking industry are looking positive. A recent report by JP Morgan Fujitsu confirmed its strong position, saying the proportion of broker originated home loans is now close to 40% of all new housing lending volumes. This is a great achievement for an industry barely 16 years old.
The mortgage broker proposition is appealing to all participants i.e. the consumers, the lenders and the brokers themselves. There is no doubt the consumer is the winner and has driven the growth of the industry against a backdrop of a complex array of product offerings.
The predicted growth of the mortgage broking industry lends itself to an exciting future where expert knowledge, convenience and choice of property loan advice will become the standard by which borrowers assess their home loan needs.