Making
broker news this week, new report by the
MFAA has reported dire writing volumes for brokers; tough lending criteria has been criticised by an industry heavyweight and a challenger aggregator has celebrated its market launch.
A recent report by the Mortgage and Finance Association of Australia has found that one in five mortgage brokers are writing “very low” volumes.
“A key finding that surprised me was that ‘20% of surveyed brokers wrote less than $1m during the six months up to September 2015’. This represents a trend of $2m annually which is very low volume for 20% of the broker market,” said MFAA chief executive Siobhan Hayden.
She said the report will be used as a starting off point in discussions with industry regulators and media.
Tough lending criteria being imposed by the major banks has been criticised by the former Australian Institute of Professional Brokers CEO, who said they are silly and irrelevant in regards to living expenses particularly.
Australian Broker spoke with owner of Universal Wealth Management Maria Rigoni who said the tough lending criteria is knocking back good, credit-worthy borrowers.
“What is happening is people are finding it harder and harder to borrow or refinance. You might have all these cheaper options out there, but with the way that [the banks] are squeezing down how much people can borrow, consumers are being stuck in high interest rate loans and you can’t move.”
Start-up My Local Broker, a challenger aggregator and retail business officially launched on Monday, featuring a new CRM purpose-built for its brokers.
“It’s taken eight years, millions of dollars of investment and plenty of hard work to get to this point,” My Local Broker, CEO Jaci Smith said.
“I’m thrilled to finally deliver what brokers have been asking for.”
Some of the industries finest in attendance to celebrate the official ribbon cutting.
