The
Australian Finance Group (
AFG) has reported that its overall loan lodgement volume has increased by 8% from the first quarter of FY16 to the first quarter of FY17.
This puts the total volume of mortgages lodges in the last quarter at $15.19b – a result which is largely driven by existing home owners seeking to save money.
The number of first home buyers is still sitting at single digits while the number of investors is down from 34% last quarter to 32%.
“Refinancers are driving the activity with a lift from 36% at the beginning of the 2016 financial year to peak at 39% in the last quarter and close steady the first quarter of the 2017 financial year at 38%,” said AFG general manager sales and operations Mark Hewitt.
The number of people upgrading their mortgages were also up, sitting at a historical high of 34%, he said.
“As these figures show, Australian home buyers are aware that rates are at historical lows and there are savings to be made.”
Sitting at this part of the cycle, it is important for brokers to regularly keep in touch with their clients, he told
Australian Broker.
“There’s a lot of competition out there especially in the variable rate market with rates less than 4%. I think it’s a really good opportunity for brokers to just be staying close to their customers.”
The number of fixed interest mortgages is also down from 18.7% last quarter to 15.9% this quarter. While basic and standard variable mortgages remained steady, the number of intro loans lodged almost doubled from 3.6% to 6.3%.
While overall trends were expected to hold steady, Hewitt expressed doubt that this would be the case.
“There’s constant talk of the markets flattening in Perth and Sydney and I think we’ve probably been hearing that for the last six or eight months but it’s fair to say that we’re not really seeing any signs of that at the moment.”
