Home loan customers are continuing to explore non-major options with the big four banks’ market share hitting a record-low.
The latest AFG Index reveals non-major banks took 47 per cent of the lodgements for the September quarter and that’s the highest it’s been since 2007.
Macquarie Bank and Citibank are the best performing of the non-majors with regards to growing their market share.
Property investors and first-home buyers typically lean towards major banks but both of these groups increasingly used non-majors in the quarter.
In fact, for the first time ever, over half of investor loans for the quarter were taken out with non-majors. Thirty-six per cent of first-home buyers did the same.
AFG CEO David Bailey spoke to Broker News.
“Homebuyers taking out P&I loans are increasingly focused on the opportunities offered by the non-majors, with more than 45% taken out with a non-major bank, representing the highest proportion ever,” he said.
“We’re encouraged by the lending data.”
“These figures show the national home loan market has consolidated the strong growth from the September quarter. We enter the new year buoyed by the healthy volumes in the second half of 2019, reinforcing the change in market sentiment during the year,” Mr Bailey told Broker News.
“It’s very clear that buyers have been enticed back to the market and the data is showing us that there is an incontestable trend away from the major banks.”
“Consumers are empowered by the enhanced competition in the home loan sector generated by mortgage brokers and are reaping the benefits through greater choice and lower prices,” he said.
