Morning Briefing: Mortgage brokers in for dark times?

Mortgage brokers could be heading into rough seas, says one industry expert… Major mortgage franchise cracks $20 billion year...

Mortgage brokers in for dark times?
With the regulator and big four banks implementing changes designed to make property investing less attractive, mortgage brokers could be heading into rough seas, according to an article in the Motley Fool.

Yesterday, Aussie Home Loans CEO James Symond said the surge in lending to investors has created significant uncertainty, and that he wasn’t sure if anyone knew what the right moves were to curb investor growth.

With the regulator and the major banks taking action to limit investor loan growth, and housing finance falling, mortgage brokers could take a hit to credit growth, potentially resulting in falling revenues and earnings in the year ahead.

Major mortgage franchise cracks $20 billion year
Aussie Home Loans has posted a record $20 billion in home loan settlements across the Aussie Group during 2014-2015, including $16.8 billion through its Aussie branded franchises. The record-breaking year was capped off in June, with settlements during the month at a record $1.98 billion, including wholesale mortgage aggregator nMB, with Aussie’s retail channel settling more than $1 billion of loans for the first time.

“We achieved all of our ambitious growth targets for the year, with our retail and mobile broker channels both reporting record levels of lending volumes,” Aussie CEO James Symond said.

“Aussie also reached an important milestone in our 23 year history, employing our 1,000th mortgage broker, while we have just opened our 175th purpose-built store. The mobile mortgage broker channel is also going full steam ahead, settling a record $600 million in June.”