Connective races ahead of industry with record growth in settlements
Mortgage demand across Australia surged in the December quarter and the trend has continued into 2021 based on record breaking figures from Australia’s largest aggregator, Connective, who has announced a new record of $5.61B in settlements in December 2020.
With applications up 27 per cent year on year in January, the trend is likely to continue.
The record month reflected close to a 20 per cent increase year on year. This industry leading growth trajectory reflects several factors including changing dynamics in supply and demand in the property market, continuing record-low interest rates, and the growing strength of broker customer relationships across the country, according to Connective.
“We’re seeing record growth from members off the back of probably the most volatile and uncertain year we’ve ever lived through and the data points to this trend continuing. These figures are further evidence of the adaptability, tenacity, and importance of the mortgage broking industry. This is especially so given the ever-increasing complexity facing borrowers that brokers are uniquely suited to manage,” said Connective CEO, Glenn Lees.
“But perhaps more importantly – these figures indicate opportunity for brokers to make 2021 a record-breaking year for them.
“We saw nearly 30 per cent growth in the value of settlements over 2020 with a total value of $57.1 billion compared to $45 billion in 2019 equating to an average growth of $1 billion per month over the year. There are many factors at play here, but it primarily indicates just how hard our brokers worked in 2020, as they adapted to new ways of working, strengthened relationships, and embraced technology.” Mr Lees said.
Connective’s most recent figures also show strong growth in applications in January and February 2021, which is a trend that is expected to continue.
“The digital transformation of the broking industry was accelerated in 2020, brokers adopted more technology and new ways of working quickly. With the commencement of best interests duty (BID) on January 1, 2021 we’ve seen an explosion in the adoption of our new Mercury Nexus platform, which is making it so much easier for brokers to work with their customers via the Client Centre, a digital portal for borrowers to work with their broker. We’re now seeing over 5000 borrowers each week using the Client Centre to share information, documents and updates with their brokers,” he said.
Connective’s software platform, Mercury Nexus, is an open business platform that supports brokers across all areas of their business and includes an open API, the Client Centre and the most comprehensive CRM, workflow and reporting tools for brokers that makes meeting their BID obligations an easy and integral part of their daily operations.
“The Mercury Nexus platform is proving to be a real game changer for our members, not only assisting them in meeting their BID obligations, but enabling them to easily document and demonstrate that they have met these obligations as part of their ‘business as usual’ processes,” said Mr Lees.
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