Australia’s only pure play listed mortgage broker, the Mortgage Choice franchise today announced the achievement of two milestones:
- March 2006 being the first time that the monthly housing loan approvals of the financial services franchise passed the $1 billion mark; and
- The loan book now stands in excess of $25 billion.
Mortgage Choice franchise Managing Director Paul Lahiff said achieving the $1 billion benchmark underlined the strength of Mortgage Choice’s brand and specialised business model and highlighted the fact that the company continues to grow its business even when the housing market is somewhat unsettled, particularly in New South Wales.
“This result is particularly pleasing as it was achieved with a national network of close to 600 brokers. It is a clear indicator of the efficiency of the business model and in particular the high productivity of the network. It is also testimony to the quality of our loans consultants and their commitment to high standards of customer service,” he said.
The Mortgage Choice franchise loan book, which now stands at $25 billion, has grown 25 per cent since March 2005, when the $20 billion milestone was announced.
“This is also a significant milestone for us; it reflects the continuing trend for Australians to use mortgage broking services for their property purchases together with Mortgage Choice’s strong position as one of the leading brokers in Australia,” Mr Lahiff said.
“It’s important to remember that whether people are downsizing, upsizing, refinancing, consolidating or buying an investment property – regardless of what the market is doing – they need high quality finance options, and increasingly, the place they look to is a mortgage broker”.
The Mortgage Choice franchise now has a larger loan book than regional banks such as SunCorp-Metway ($20.2 billion) and BankWest ($17.9 billion) and foreign banks such as ING ($21.8 billion), with the next largest bank lender being St. George Bank at $58.0 billion.
Mr. Lahiff said the Mortgage Choice franchise anticipated solid demand for housing finance in the first six months of 2006 despite a somewhat unsettled housing market, and this has occurred.
“We have seen strong returns out of Western Australia and Queensland with steady performances elsewhere except for NSW, which is still relatively flat. However, this period had shown two trends: there had been a big increase in demand for fixed rate loans, which had risen to peak at 30 per cent of Mortgage Choice’s business and, sustained and increasing demand from first home buyers,” he said.
“In the coming six months, we expect to see continued high levels of competition and innovation in the mortgage broking market”.
31-Oct-2006