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Alex Whitlock
Strong borrower interest in SMSFs could represent a lucrative opportunity for brokers to tap into new revenue streams in 2012.
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According to a December survey conducted by The Adviser’s sister publication Smart Property Investment, 31 per cent of respondents already have an SMSF. Of the 69 per cent that don’t have their own super fund, 72.6 per cent of respondents said that they plan to switch to a SMSF in the future.
The good news for mortgage brokers is that property is the clear leader when it comes to the asset classes that investors plan to target.
Of those planning to take out an SMSF in the future, 91 per cent said they would invest in residential property, followed by 33 per cent for commercial property.
Australian shares appealed to 40 per cent of respondents, with international shares appealing to just 17 per cent.
While the majority of brokers are yet to write an SMSF loan this is clearly an area of opportunity for the industry.
According to an October straw poll conducted by The Adviser, 38.3 per cent of the 274 broker respondents said they had already written an SMSF loan.
Mortgage EZY’s head of sales and marketing Chris Wisbey said he wouldn’t be surprised if 50 per cent of brokers were writing these products in the very near future.
“I think a lot of people have become disillusioned by the share market and the banks in general. While an SMSF loan is a financial product, it offers borrowers a lot more security, which allows them to control their life post retirement,” Mr Wisbey told The Adviser.
“As these products gain traction with borrowers, they will also gain traction with brokers.”
Mr Wisbey said Mortgage EZY’s SMSF product had been well received by brokers since its launch in June this year.
“Many brokers are under the assumption that these loans are incredibly complex and too difficult to write. While they can be challenging for traditional mortgage brokers, once they get their head around them, they are relatively simple products,” he said.
“Moving forward, I think we will see a large portion of the third party distribution channel opt to focus solely on writing these types of loans."
