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The non-bank lender aims to expand its offering this year to include small ticket, commercial and construction lending products.
Bluestone Home Loans (Bluestone) has revealed plans for new product launches in 2025 in a bid to offer a full product suite to brokers.
At an event to celebrate 25 years of lending, the lender hailed recent growth, which includes surging alt-doc loan volumes that shot up 260 per cent year over year for the quarter ending December 2024.
To mark a quarter of a century, Bluestone recently refreshed its brand identity, and the lender said it was targeting future growth this year.
Chief commercial officer Tony MacRae told The Adviser that Bluestone wants to be the “preferred partner for brokers”, but to do that, the company needs to build a full product suite or run the risk of brokers going to rival lenders for products they do not offer.
“Where we have gaps at the moment is small ticket, commercial, and construction [lending]. We’re working on those right now to look at how we bring those into the market later in the year,” MacRae said.
MacRae added that the company plans to launch new products around the midpoint of the year or just after, adding to Bluestone’s recently launched expat lending offering, along with its larger loan limits.
‘We don’t exist without brokers’
MacRae was keen to stress the importance of brokers for Bluestone.
“One hundred per cent of our business comes through brokers. We don’t exist without brokers,” he said at the Sydney event on Wednesday (13 March).
When asked how Bluestone differed from rivals, MacRae answered: “I think the way we clearly differentiate ourselves and support brokers is our approach, which is based on education first.
“We want to help brokers grow their business. And so the key to that is showing them that there’s always a solution.”
The lender is currently educating brokers on more complex areas of lending, such as self-managed super fund lending, near prime and specialist lending, MacRae added.
“Supporting brokers to grow their business through leading with education is absolutely critical,” he said.
Alt-doc boom
Bluestone has seen a surge in demand for its alt-doc products, with loan volumes for the December quarter 39 times higher than in 2019 and origination volumes tripling in the last 18 months.
Demand has been boosted by a rise in self-employment, with around 15 per cent of Australians now working for themselves – a number that continues to grow.
Bluestone’s head of non-standard lending, Aaron Taylor, believes the company’s emphasis on making borrowing easier has also contributed to growth.
“Traditional lending criteria can be a major roadblock for self-employed borrowers,” he said.
“At Bluestone, we take a common-sense approach to assessing real financial situations, making home ownership more accessible for those who drive Australia’s economy.”
A recent broker survey conducted by Bluestone found that 75 per cent of respondents said submitting an alt-doc loan with Bluestone was easier than with traditional lenders.
MacRae emphasised that a focus on simplicity was key to standing out in the market.
“Service is all about ensuring I’ve got the right processes and making efficient credit positions, and we eliminate duplication or unnecessary documentation,” he told The Adviser.
“We’ve spent the last 12 months simplifying and eliminating [unnecessary processes], getting rid of unnecessary forms, verification docs, ensuring that you know we’re not asking for information that we don’t need.”
An evolving industry
A record 76 per cent of all new home loans were written by mortgage brokers in the three months to December 2024.
However, MacRae believes broker market share will continue to grow.
“Brokers will continue to be absolutely critical … getting to 80 per cent [of all home loans written]. I don’t see as out of the question,” he said.
He added that he saw future opportunities for non-bank lenders as working trends changed.
“I see that our space – the non-conforming credit-impaired specialist-style lending like self-managed super funds (SMSF) – will continue to grow.
“Customers, consumers, [will keep] changing their lifestyles and changing their work habits. [They will say] ‘I want more flexibility. I’m going to change the way I earn income and so I may turn what was a hobby into a business. I may actually diversify how I earn income that gives me greater flexibility, or I just want to do something that means I don’t have to commute into the city every single day.’ …
“I see that growing and that space growing to become a really critical element of lending space in the future.”
[Related: Bluestone Home Loans celebrates 25 years]
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