AFG stock recovers amid property lending speculation… Macquarie Group joins in on investor clampdown… Report: Home loan lending up 19 per cent
Australia’s largest mortgage firm finds footing
Australia's biggest mortgage broking business, Australian Finance Group, bounced back after making its sharemarket debut at a slight discount amid mounting expectations the banks will be forced to tighten property lending standards, according to the Sydney Morning Herald.
Shares in the company started trading on the Australian Securities Exchange at noon fetching $1.18, a 1.2 per cent discount to their $1.20 offer price. But the stock recovered to close its first session bang-on the offer price at $1.20.
The news comes as the country's biggest banks move to crimp the investor housing market by tightening their lending standards. The Australian Prudential Regulation Authority has warned it will soon require the big banks to hold a bigger capital buffer against their mortgage books, in response to a recommendation from the financial system inquiry.
On December 30, the AFG loan book was worth more than $100 billion. The group's 2300 brokers originate about 9500 applications, worth around $4.4 billion in loan finance, per month, according to the article.
Macquarie Group joins in on investor clampdown
Macquarie Group has joined the growing number of banks charging property investors higher interest rates, as it faces pressure to curb a rapid expansion in home lending, according to an article in the Sydney Morning Herald.
Changes that took effect on Friday will mean Macquarie customers taking out fixed-rate investor or interest-only loans and will likely pay higher rates than borrowers who live in their property – a move that happened just a week after banks have put the brakes on property investor lending.
The change was articulated to mortgage brokers this week, following hot on the heels of similar moves from ANZ Bank, National Australia Bank and Commonwealth Bank, which have all scrapped or scaled back discounts offered to investors.
Analysts said the tougher regulatory environment may lead to further changes by banks to curb their growth in investor lending, which has underpinned the red-hot Sydney property market.
Report: Home loan lending up 19 per cent
According to an article from the Australian, a Mortgage And Finance Association of Australia survey highlighted the total new home loan lending attributable to mortgage brokers for the year to March 2015 was $165 billion — a powerful increase of 19 per cent over the equivalent period a year earlier.
Behind this boom there has been consistent concern with aspects of mortgage broking in relation to standards and disclosure. Still, there are still opponents to the survey including the MFAA.
The MFAA has blasted the survey as misleading and having an insufficient sample size. In the wake of the report MFAA released their own survey commissioned from accountants Ernst and Young and guess what? They found 92 per cent of their 600 respondents were satisfied with the “process of arranging their recent mortgage” through mortgage brokers.
The industry has grown 10 per cent a year since 2005, according to the article, and wealth firm Ernst and Young is suggesting that mortgage brokers will find it increasingly difficult to combat the richness of digital information now accessible to investors.
Australia's biggest mortgage broking business, Australian Finance Group, bounced back after making its sharemarket debut at a slight discount amid mounting expectations the banks will be forced to tighten property lending standards, according to the Sydney Morning Herald.
Shares in the company started trading on the Australian Securities Exchange at noon fetching $1.18, a 1.2 per cent discount to their $1.20 offer price. But the stock recovered to close its first session bang-on the offer price at $1.20.
The news comes as the country's biggest banks move to crimp the investor housing market by tightening their lending standards. The Australian Prudential Regulation Authority has warned it will soon require the big banks to hold a bigger capital buffer against their mortgage books, in response to a recommendation from the financial system inquiry.
On December 30, the AFG loan book was worth more than $100 billion. The group's 2300 brokers originate about 9500 applications, worth around $4.4 billion in loan finance, per month, according to the article.
Macquarie Group joins in on investor clampdown
Macquarie Group has joined the growing number of banks charging property investors higher interest rates, as it faces pressure to curb a rapid expansion in home lending, according to an article in the Sydney Morning Herald.
Changes that took effect on Friday will mean Macquarie customers taking out fixed-rate investor or interest-only loans and will likely pay higher rates than borrowers who live in their property – a move that happened just a week after banks have put the brakes on property investor lending.
The change was articulated to mortgage brokers this week, following hot on the heels of similar moves from ANZ Bank, National Australia Bank and Commonwealth Bank, which have all scrapped or scaled back discounts offered to investors.
Analysts said the tougher regulatory environment may lead to further changes by banks to curb their growth in investor lending, which has underpinned the red-hot Sydney property market.
Report: Home loan lending up 19 per cent
According to an article from the Australian, a Mortgage And Finance Association of Australia survey highlighted the total new home loan lending attributable to mortgage brokers for the year to March 2015 was $165 billion — a powerful increase of 19 per cent over the equivalent period a year earlier.
Behind this boom there has been consistent concern with aspects of mortgage broking in relation to standards and disclosure. Still, there are still opponents to the survey including the MFAA.
The MFAA has blasted the survey as misleading and having an insufficient sample size. In the wake of the report MFAA released their own survey commissioned from accountants Ernst and Young and guess what? They found 92 per cent of their 600 respondents were satisfied with the “process of arranging their recent mortgage” through mortgage brokers.
The industry has grown 10 per cent a year since 2005, according to the article, and wealth firm Ernst and Young is suggesting that mortgage brokers will find it increasingly difficult to combat the richness of digital information now accessible to investors.
