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New data has suggested that there are now a record 21,225 customer-facing brokers in Australia.
New research undertaken by CoreData for the Finance Brokers Association of Australasia (FBAA) has revealed that there are more brokers in Australia than ever before.
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According to the Broker Density in Australia white paper, the core findings of which were unveiled at the FBAA national conference in the Gold Coast on Friday (1 November), there are estimated to be 21,225 customer-facing brokers in Australia.
By reviewing a range of sources – including the ASIC database of credit representatives and licensees, data from broking associations, and CoreData’s open-source intelligence on the Australian broking market – CoreData found that there are now more brokers in market than ever before.
This brings Australia’s national consumer-to-broker ratio (CBR) to 10.7 brokers per 10,000 adults (when comparing the broker population with the adult population in Australia).
By dividing the number of adults by that of brokers, this means there is one broker for every 931 adults in Australia
By comparison, the CBR was sitting at 10.2 brokers per 10,000 adults in 2018, meaning that the number of brokers relative to consumers has seen a growth of 4.91 per cent between 2018 and 2024.
Growth in the broking industry is being supported by increased consumer demand and interest in the broking profession, in addition to general population growth, according to CoreData.
The number of people entering the broking industry has also surged over the past four years, the researchers found, more than doubling across all states and territories in Australia between 2020 and 2023.
Indeed, 2023 marked the peak year for new entrants across all states and territories, except for Tasmania.
NSW and Victoria, the two most populous states, saw the largest influx of new entrants across all years. They now have the highest number of brokers in the country (with 34 per cent and 32 per cent of brokers working there, respectively).
In terms of broker density, Victoria leads the way with 13.5 brokers per 10,000 adults, making it the most saturated broker market.
Conversely, Tasmania and the Northern Territory are home to just 1 per cent and 0.3 per cent of Australia’s brokers and have the two lowest broker densities of any region, at 4.7 and 3.6, respectively.
Where is the opportunity?
While the report revealed that brokers are found to be present in wealthier areas, where the demand for broker channels is higher, the researchers still identified areas of opportunity where markets are under-serviced.
For example, CoreData found there are opportunities around the fringe areas of Australia’s major cities, where housing prices are rising as populations increase, but where broker markets are not well established.
The report said: “These areas stand out as having relatively high mortgage rates, a lower number of brokers, while also having growing house prices and growing populations.
“Additionally, certain remote yet affluent areas, such as the North Coast of Queensland and rural Western Australia, remain underserved by brokers. These regions boast high-income levels, largely fuelled by the mining and tourism sectors, but their geographic isolation has resulted in a dramatic undersupply of brokers.
“This presents an opportunity for brokers to expand into these markets, either by establishing a local presence or by developing remote working relationships with the economically active consumers in these regions.”
Opportunities exist in Mornington Peninsula in Victoria (where there is very low broker density, but high home values), the report said, as well as Mackay in Queensland and Broome in Western Australia, which face “significant broker shortage due to geographic isolation though have significant economic activity”, according to CoreData.
‘A more accurate representation’
Reflecting on the findings, FBAA managing director Peter White AM said he was surprised to see how much the broker market had grown in a short amount of time, but added the figures showcased how broking was an increasingly attractive proposition as a career.
“The pot was a lot bigger than what we all realised, but when you look at the broker ratio to borrower population, it’s actually not out of sync from what it is around the world,” he said.
The FBAA MD told The Adviser that part of the attraction may be the growing dominance of the broker channel, the flexibility that broking provides, and the ability to create a strong business asset.
“As a broker you’re out making money, you’re fulfilling people’s dreams, and you can live the lifestyle you want to live. It’s got that flexibility and dynamism to it so you can do it when and where you want to do it,” he said.
He said that the new market size figure would help the association advocate for the industry by providing a more accurate reflection of the market.
“When we stand in front of government or regulators, we need to understand the true totality of risk that we’re talking about within a market sector,” he said.
”We know now, based on industry knowledge and washing out the duplications and the non-loan writing brokers (and so on) out of the system, that this is a more reflective and accurate picture of the market – which is bigger than we thought it was.”
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