The national body representing Australia's mortgage brokers says the country is one of only three, alongside the United Kingdom and the Netherlands, where brokers facilitate more than 80% of mortgages, The Conversation reported. The value of home loans arranged by brokers in the June quarter reached $139.1 billion.
A report commissioned by the industry and released in late September put the number of residential home loans arranged by brokers in 2025 at 838,815, which was 122,800 loans, or 17.2%, above the prior year. Australia has approximately 24,000 mortgage brokers, according to the industry body. Rules requiring licensed mortgage brokers to act in a client's best interest, rather than merely finding a suitable loan, have been in place since mid-2021, following the Hayne royal commission.
ASIC found that among the eight aggregator groups reviewed, two could not readily retrieve loan-cost comparison data from their systems, requiring them to check individual files to measure cost differences, The Nightly reported. ASIC commissioner Alan Kirkland, speaking to The Nightly, said aggregators' approaches to data were patchy. Among the eight groups, three omitted certain loan applications that were withdrawn, declined or abandoned from their compliance checks.
Two gave brokers advance notice of upcoming compliance audits, with files flagged as long as 72 hours before review. Kirkland said that advance warning of audits could undermine the integrity of the audit process. No evidence of wrongdoing was connected to those advance warnings, though the ASIC report separately flagged potentially backdated disclosure documents.
Under the best interest duty, brokers must offer clients several options and ensure those clients understand what each option means for them. Kirkland said the larger the cost difference between loans, the stronger the evidence a broker must provide to show the recommendation served the borrower's best interests. Brokers are typically paid a percentage of the loan value at settlement and then an ongoing fee, meaning larger and longer-lasting loans generate higher commissions.
Borrowers who use brokers may receive loan recommendations that are not the cheapest available and may be presented with only the loans available through the broker's aggregator platform rather than the full range of lenders. Because broker commissions are tied to loan size and duration, borrowers are advised to understand how those commissions work when deciding on the size and term of their loan.
Reporting: The Conversation, The Nightly
Written by Pick & Scroll News from the reporting and documents linked above.
