Login
ISCOVER
With four aggregators of the year awards under its belt in 2023 alone, Mortgage Choice attributes its success to its brokers’ single-minded focus on their customers, ongoing investment in a nationally recognised brand, and comprehensive broker support.
Creating seamless property journeys
In mid-2021, Mortgage Choice became part of REA Group, the global technology business behind the realestate.com.au website. The acquisition, and the merger with aggregator Smartline (already owned by REA Group), merged the power of REA Group’s leading property search and insights with one of Australia’s leading mortgage brokerages.
Mortgage Choice brokers now receive qualified leads from the realestate.com.au website, which receives more than 10 million visitors each month. Brokers can also provide clients with data-driven insights on property prices and market trends through interactive reports from digital valuation firm PropTrack (also owned by REA Group).
CEO of Mortgage Choice and Financial Services at REA Group, Anthony Waldron says access to REA Group’s property data and insights is beginning to deliver real advantages for Mortgage Choice brokers.
“Through this growing source of leads, our brokers have exclusive opportunities to connect with the realestate.com.au audience and are in a unique position to be part of a complete and seamless homebuying journey, where customers can search for, find and finance property in one place.”
Supporting Australians through uncertainty
As interest rates and the cost of living continues to squeeze household budgets, more people are turning to mortgage brokers for assistance. In the six months from October 2022 to March 2023, mortgage brokers wrote 69.6% of Australia’s residential home loans.
With its network of more than 1,000 brokers and over 800 franchises nationally, Mortgage Choice brokers are in a unique position to capitalise on this growing reliance on the broking industry.
In 2023, Mortgage Choice was ranked number one in The Adviser’s annual Top 25 Brokerages. It was also named Aggregator of the Year at the Mortgage Business Awards, Major Franchise Brokerage of the Year at the Australian Broking Awards, and Aggregator of the Year at the Australian Mortgage Awards.
CEO Anthony Waldron attributes this success squarely to the strength of the aggregator’s broker network.
"At Mortgage Choice, it’s not just about settlement volumes – talk to any broker in our network and you’ll find a deep sense of responsibility for the role they play in helping Australians make what is often the biggest financial decision of their lives. There is an absolute commitment to supporting customers through their home buying journey – and then throughout the life of their loan.
“Our brokers put in an incredible amount of work each day to support their customers – whether that’s helping first home buyers looking to get into the market, or assisting investors who already own multiple properties,” he says. “Their guidance has recently played an incredibly valuable role, as they have helped thousands of Australians navigate the changing interest rate environment to find the best possible home loan options.”
Innovating to support customers
In October 2022, Mortgage Choice partnered with Athena Home Loans to create an innovative suite of lending products designed to deliver a better deal for customers and to help people pay off their home loan faster.
“Mortgages are widely recognised as the biggest monthly expense for households in Australia,” says Waldron. “With 12 interest rate rises since May 2022, and more potentially on the horizon, it’s more important than ever that lenders are giving borrowers a fair go.”
Launched in June this year, the Mortgage Choice Freedom range offers the same interest rates to new and existing customers on like-for-like variable loans, charges no lender fees, and automatically drops the rate as a customer reduces their LVR.
“These Mortgage Choice Freedom products are just the beginning,” says Waldron. “We are working with Athena on an ambitious roadmap and are looking forward to delivering even more value for Australian borrowers.”
A national brand with local reach
In 2022, Mortgage Choice saw one of the largest investments in its brand since the company was founded more than 30 years ago. In the 18 months since, it has continued to invest heavily in national media campaigns, spanning TV, radio, social media and outdoor advertising.
Mortgage Choice’s ‘You’re Never a Loan’ campaign was awarded National Marketing Campaign of the Year at the 2023 Australian Broking Awards. This campaign ran across multiple channels in metro and regional areas, and was complemented by marketing assets that brokers could personalise for use in their local area – allowing brokers to leverage the power of the aggregator’s national brand presence.
Local marketing assets are complemented by tools to help brokers automate their marketing efforts – such as technology to help with design, social media scheduling and automated marketing email delivery.
George Boustani, a Mortgage Choice franchise owner in Sydney’s Penshurst, estimates that he spends just 15 minutes a week on social media tasks.
“This marketing support is crucial to my business as it saves me a tremendous amount of time and money not having to personally prepare marketing and social media content,” he says.
“I save on employing a marketing staff member for my franchise, because we can use the content provided by head office.”
Support for brokers at every step
The Mortgage Choice model centres around providing comprehensive support for brokers, from marketing and technology to compliance and business development.
New brokers participate in an in-depth induction program and an MFAA-endorsed mentoring program, as well as a comprehensive annual events calendar.
The organisation also actively supports and promotes female brokers in the sector through its Aspire talent program, which this year won the Diversity and Inclusion Award at the MFAA National Excellence Awards. Women currently make up 35% of Mortgage Choice’s network – well above the industry average of 25.4%.
“We’re focused on building a broker network that better reflects the communities we live and work in,” says Waldron. “We’re proud of the awards we’ve won this year, reflecting our true strength – our broker community.”
If you would like to find out more about Mortgage Choice click here.
1 Neilsen Consumer and Media View 2023
2 MFAA Industry Intelligence Service 16th Edition (1 October 2022 – 31 March 2023).
3 MFAA Industry Intelligence Service 15th Edition (1 April 2022 – 30 September 2022)
JOIN THE DISCUSSION