The value of mortgage and finance broking

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Mortgage and Finance Brokers act as a crucial link between consumers, businesses and lenders to facilitate access to residential and commercial products and services. The services can be further classified as mortgage broking or commercial and asset finance broking. Mortgage Brokers specialise in residential loans while Commercial and Asset Finance Brokers require higher education to address the diverse needs of clients. Most Commercial and Asset Finance Brokers come from a business banking background and need to understand business cashflows, tax implications and company structuring.  The Mortgage & Finance Association of Australia (MFAA) reports that there are limited published statistics measuring commercial and asset finance lending, however, based on industry consultations, aggregators have been writing more commercial loans year on year.

The MFAA reports that Mortgage Brokers wrote 76% of all new residential loans across Australia in the 2024 December quarter, representing a steady increase of 4.2% compared to the December 2023 quarter. This increase is unsurprising as more traditional lenders such as banks reduce their propriety channel footprints, especially in regional areas. The personalised service that Mortgage Brokers offer to clients is a contributing factor to an increase of repeat and new customer referrals thus contributing to the overall increase in loans. The role of Mortgage Brokers has also changed with more Brokers investing time to increase clients’ financial literacy such as educating and preparing each client for mortgage applications, empowering them to make more informed decisions as they understand the loan products and the process from application to settlement.

Mortgage Brokers work in an ecosystem of complex lender finance comprising lenders, lending managers, mortgage brokers, aggregators and referrers. The industry employed 37, 349 indirect and direct workers and contributed an estimated $4.1 billion to the Australian economy in 2023/2024.

The Mortgage and Finance Broking Industry is growing from strength to strength and with the adoption of Best Interest Duty legislation in 2021 as a safeguard for clients, there is greater confidence in the services that are provided by Mortgage and Finance Brokers. Although there has been an 22,031 (29%) increase of mortgage brokers between 2017/2018 to 2023/2024, industry struggles to attract individuals into the profession. The profession is not promoted extensively in schools therefore there is very little understanding of potential career prospects as a Mortgage Broker including the earning capacity as reported by MFAA as averaging $173,209 (before expenses) for sole traders with two to five years of experience and $215,505 (before expenses) for brokers with more than five years’ experience. While maturity and life experience are valuable traits that employers and clients seek out, there are opportunities for secondary school graduates, who have the aptitude, to undertake the Certificate IV in Finance and Mortgage Broking, gain experience and become qualified. As Mortgage Brokers need to build a client base that can take a couple of years, living at home reduces financial risk for individuals during this process while presenting opportunities for younger individuals to embark on their entrepreneurial journey.

Read the full report here.

Credits:

MFAA: The Value of Mortgage and Finance Broking 2025 Report & More Australians turn to mortgage brokers for expert home loan guidance, media statement, 5 March 2025.

FAPSTC: Insights from industry consultations.