"This has been one of our best years"

Western Australia’s property market is still going strong, and Perth-based Mortgage & Finance Solutions Australia (MFSA) is reaping the benefits. MFSA’s performance led to its inclusion on MPA’s 2022 Top Brokerages list.

“This has been one of our best years in the last 10 years – not only number-wise, but team morale-wise as well,” said Stacey Dragicevich, divisional manager at MFSA.

MFSA is one of only a handful of brokerages with five or fewer active loan writers that has a total book value of more than $1 billion. However, the company is looking to grow, Dragicevich said.

“The task for us is to find the right people to join our team as we still have so much growth – but we are a company focused on people, so it is about finding the right people who fit our culture,” she said.

Dragicevich said that current market concerns include continued inflation and the impact of rising interest rates on the ability to attract buyers as heat goes out of the market. However, MFSA has a strategic plan to help ride out the current market conditions.

“[The plan] assists brokers to grow through leads from our parent company, The Agency Group, and our comprehensive development plan and mentoring initiative,” Dragicevich said.

MFSA has also launched a new focus on community and charity. Brokers are encouraged to partner with a charity and provide their time and service. Over the last year, MFSA has worked with charitable organisations including Paul’s Great Shave, which supports cancer therapies; children’s support group Dandelion; and the Patricia Giles Centre for Non-violence.

With a mostly female broking team, the company also wants to improve the position of women in broking. According to a recent report, the proportion of female brokers in the mortgage industry fell to a record low of 25.6% in the six months to September 2021. An MPA survey of brokers and aggregators conducted in May showed an even lower proportion at 22.1%.

Learn more about the final ranking of Australia’s top aggregators and boutique aggregators in 2023 here.

To help combat this decline, MFSA has introduced flexible working arrangements and implemented a development plan to retain staff.

“Our divisional manager contacts brokers who are new to the industry to ensure that they have someone to listen to and know there is support out there,” Dragicevich said. “[This is] to ensure that those women entering the industry have another person who can help them on their journey.”