Greater uncertainty is driving demand
Uncertainty around interest rates and property prices has led to a surge in home loan enquiries, financial comparison website Compare Club says.
That’s led to exponential growth in the value of its home loan settlements, which were up 400% in December 2021, compared to December 2020.
The company said this was largely due to its innovative and streamlined digital broking process, coupled with increased demand.
Heightened uncertainty around the future of interest rates and property prices were key drivers of the increase, the company said, resulting in more refinancers and first home buyers wanting to lock in a rate ahead of official cash rate increases.
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To support annual growth, including a record level of enquiries in March, the company increased its headcount in the home loans division by six. Working with an external network of 65 brokers, the company continued to “recruit heavily” to expand its broker network. Its panel of lender partners increased by five, including non-bank lenders that worked with a small percentage of broker panels across the country.
Compare Club general manager of home loans Matthew Gatt (pictured) said changing economic conditions and growing market uncertainty sparked a “wave of new home loan inquiries”.
However, the company was able to field inquiries more quickly than through traditional processes, he said.
“At Compare Club, we’ve identified inefficiencies in the traditional mortgage broking process, and we’ve addressed them to streamline the entire process,” Gatt said. “We’ve reduced the timeframe from enquiry to approval and eliminated the need for lengthy manual documentation and information collection. That means we’re getting our customers to the approval stage quicker, [and] it also allows us to process more customers per team member.”
Expansion of its lender panel gave customers greater choice, including lower-priced mortgages, and enabled the company to respond to a broader range of lending requirements.
“Our home loans department is continuing to grow at a rapid rate and Compare Club is on course to become one of the largest and most comprehensive mortgage comparison and digital brokerage businesses in the country,” Gatt said.
The company’s focus is on existing homeowners looking for value and to reduce their mortgage expenses, although it also spoke with first-home buyers, existing homeowners looking to move up the property ladder, and investors.
As an advocate of the broking industry and the value provided to customers, Gatt said brokers wanting to take their business to the next level were able to partner with Compare Club, which focused on delivering “high-volume, high-quality leads”.
“We’re always keen to speak with, and partner with, highly driven and motivated brokers who want to partner with an innovator in the marketplace. Our partner brokers benefit from ongoing support and sales training as well as industry best process enhancements that they can use to better their entire business, not just leads they work with from Compare Club,” Gatt said.
Read more: Strategies to turn a cold lead into a warm lead
People wanting to buy a home or refinance could visit the site, which pre-qualifies them based on a series of questions, such as income, deposit, and area (postcode).
The company sources and pre-qualifies leads, before partnering the customer with one of the brokers on its panel, who then assists with product recommendations.
“Compare Club takes care of generating the enquiry and providing all information required for the broker. This means they can make a quick assessment and commence product recommendations faster than they otherwise would have been able to do,” Gatt said.
