Non-major lenders struggle for share of competitive home loan market
Non-major lenders have struggled to increase their collective monthly average of 25% of all home loans processed during the last financial year according to AFG Australia’s largest mortgage broker. AFG’s quarterly Competition Index, published today, reveals that the collective market share of non-major lenders was 26.3% in July 2013 and 25.2% in June 2014.
During the past 12 months, the share of loans processed for non-majors remained within a band of 24.0% (January 2014) to 27.7% (November 2013).
Mark Hewitt, General Manager of Sales and Operations says: ‘On the surface competition appears as strong as any time in the last 20 years. However the reality is that the major banks and their subsidiary brands continue to dominate and non majors have made little or no headway in the past 12 months.’
AFG Competition Index shows that lenders are increasingly focusing on different market segments, resulting in some significant changes in market share. ANZ built its share of first home buyers from 9.4% in July 2013 to 12.0% by June 2014. Among the non-majors, ME Bank recorded a massive increase of all fixed rate mortgage processed, from 1.0% share in July 2013 to 10.3% in June 2014. Macquarie Bank showed strong growth, particularly among borrowers seeking refinancing (7.8% in July 2013 to 10.0% in June 2014) and Bank of Queensland also made strong inroads in the first home buyers market, especially in the past six months (1.8% in January 2014 to 6.4% last month).
In terms of downward trends, a marked decline for BankWest was recorded during the first 6 months of this year with overall share falling from 9.0% in January to 5.0% in June, as far fewer home loans were processed for the bank on behalf of first home buyers (17.7% in January down to 10.3% in June). NAB recorded a steady overall decline during the year from 1.8% to 1.2%, and among non-majors, Suncorp, which held the largest share at the start of the year (5.6%) had declined to 2.9% by the end, behind Macquarie and ING.
