Investor activity rockets to a multi-year high in fourth quarter
Mortgage aggregator AFG delivered record lodgements of over $27 billion in the fourth quarter of its 2025 financial year, according to company filings.
AFG brokers wrote a total of 40,810 home loans in the quarter, the highest number ever recorded and only the second time the aggregator has surpassed the 40,000 mark.
New South Wales led the charge with nearly $9 billion in lodgements, representing a 16% year-on-year increase. Victoria followed with over $8 billion. Western Australia saw the strongest yearly growth of 25% to just shy of $3.7 billion.
Total lodgements for the whole financial year topped $100 billion.
AFG chief executive David Bailey (pictured) said: “These results reinforce the critical role brokers continue to play in helping borrowers, providing them with lending solutions as they navigate a complex lending environment.”
Refinancing boom overhyped?
Perhaps surprisingly, refinancing activity slowed in the quarter, hitting an all-time low of 19% of written loans. “Borrowers are likely holding off in anticipation of future rate cuts,” Bailey suggested.
On the flipside, investor activity surged to 34% of the market – the highest point since 2017.
The average mortgage size climbed to $678,333, reflecting persistent strength in property prices. New South Wales continues to set the pace with an average mortgage of $778,628, while Victoria isn’t far behind at $664,061.
White label surge
Non-major lenders retained a 40.3% share of the home loan market, which was down slightly year on year although in line with recent historical averages, while AFG’s white label product, AFG Home Loans, climbed to 6.55% in the quarter.
Bailey said that was “a clear signal of increasing consumer appetite for competitive alternatives to the major banks”.
Read more: Did NAB herald the end of white label mortgages? Not likely
Turnaround times crept up in the quarter to an average of 15.6 days, from 15.5 days in the third quarter and a historic low of 14.8 days in the second quarter. This, however, was still sufficiently below the 16.3-day average noted in the previous year’s fourth quarter.
