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Brokers are divided about how much clients value ethnicity, after one real estate mogul forecast that Indian buyers would follow the Chinese into the Australian market.
“Queensland is the number one state of choice among affluent Indians considering investing in Australian property, closely followed by Victoria,” McGrath Estate Agents chief executive John McGrath said.
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Smartline broker Karen Forbes said she doesn’t support the common view that ethnicity affects a client’s decision on who they choose to write their loan.
Ms Forbes told The Adviser that she deals with a broad range of ethnic customers, and seems to get along “just fine” with them.
“I do deal with clients who speak English as their second language, so I spend a little more time with them going through the documents, and offer for them to take the documents home so they can read and digest them at their own pace,” she said.
Loan Market Townsville broker Phil Rogers said if a client has a great experience with you and your business, “trust is built no matter your ethnicity, age or gender”.
However, Momentum Wealth broker Bianca Patterson said ethnicity does attract a client to a broker to an extent, especially if they share the same native language.
“Clients will always feel more comfortable working with someone who shares a similar culture, beliefs and values, so it is important for all brokers to understand those of their target market,” she said.
Matt Cunliffe, general manager of Mortgage Choice’s Brisbane franchise, said it was much easier to get a deal done when the client and the broker speak the same language.
“It’s definitely easier to communicate in native tongue, so Chinese clients who have a little bit of broken English prefer to speak in Mandarin,” he told The Adviser.
“We have a Chinese and Korean broker in our business who deal with predominantly Chinese and Korean clients.”
