Brokers who expand into the investor and self-employed segments can grow their customer base, diversify revenue streams and build their businesses.
Many brokers are finding success by branching into commercial broking, but for those who wish to keep their focus on residential lending, targeting a broader range of customers – including self-employed and investors – may offer a good balance to future-proof their revenue streams.
More than 99% of Australia’s businesses are small to medium enterprises, including nearly 1.5 million self-employed individuals and 2.5 million small-to-medium businesses. All those people will potentially need support from brokers with their home lending needs.
Similarly, property investors are a solid and growing source of business for mortgage brokers. With the value of the Australian property market now worth around $11 billion, even more investors are looking to add bricks and mortar to their portfolio to earn rental income and benefit from capital growth.
Brokers who expand their service offers to attract new customers in these segments have a huge opportunity to diversify their revenue streams and build their broker businesses.
Benefits of diversification
Offering services that specifically cater to unique customer needs allows brokers to form deeper relationships with customers that can develop as their situations and aspirations evolve.
From a personal development perspective, working with a wider variety of customers provides brokers with the chance to learn new skills and take on different and interesting challenges.
As the bank behind the broker, NAB is there to support brokers in building their skills and finding the best fit home lending solution for a whole range of customers.
Serving the self-employed
From sole traders to partnerships, to companies and trusts, self-employed people may have different priorities and different lending needs compared with customers who earn income from regular employment.
As Australia’s largest business bank, NAB’s banking experts have a deep understanding of complex business structures and diverse income sources. NAB’s specialist knowledge of what it takes to run a business ensures self-employed customers are borrowing appropriate amounts whether they need support with home lending or business lending.
Supporting investors to build their portfolios
Property investment has always been a top choice for Australians looking to build wealth. With 73.7% of all home loans across Australia originated by brokers, according to Mortgage Finance Association of Australia figures, many customers are also turning to brokers for support in achieving their financial goals and aspirations in property investment.
Whether they are first-time investors or long-term property wealth builders, property investors need options tailored to suit their individual circumstances. For example, they may need rental options for servicing that include short stay and holiday rentals. NAB’s policies offer these servicing options.
Like self-employed customers, investors are often seeking flexible policies that suit non-standard employment and income. NAB’s loan assessments consider a property investor’s total financial picture, which means we may be able to lend more than our peers. Extra allowances for medicos and essential services workers are also on offer, and lenders’ mortgage insurance may be waived for medicos and some professionals.
True customer obsession
NAB’s vision is to be Australia’s most customer-centric company – not only the most customer-centric bank. To achieve this vision, NAB is focused is on delivering market-leading experiences to our brokers and our customers. This include using automation and simpler processes to speed up approvals.
More than one in three broker-originated home loans now come through NAB’s simple home loans platform, meaning we can provide same-day unconditional approval when brokers submit all the required documents and the customer meets all lending criteria.
A national team of business development managers and relationship managers offer dedicated support, while a case manager assigned to each broker makes it easier to do business with NAB.
As the property market evolves and brokers look for ways to expand their income streams, build stronger relationships with grow, many broker businesses may find targeting a wider range of customers is a pathway to success.
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