MFAA's State of Mortgage and Finance Broking: clawbacks, consolidation and commercial growth

The Mortgage and Finance Association of Australia (MFAA) has released its State of Mortgage and Finance Broking Report 2026.

It provides an unrivalled map of the entire broker channel, from how much brokers settle and where, to who is writing loans, what they earn and the clawbacks cutting into their revenue.

The MFAA commissioned the report with Cotality undertaking the analysis, drawing mainly on data from nine participating MFAA aggregator member partners.

It tracks settlement volumes, lender market share, broker demographics, revenue and business structures. For the first time, it also measures clawbacks at an industry level.

MPA got a sneak peek at the findings at a press conference held at the MFAA's offices on Friday 25 September 2026.

Naveen Ahluwalia (pictured, left), executive, policy and legal at the MFAA, said the association's data is already shaping conversations in Canberra.

"It's been really interesting for us – APRA (the Australian Prudential Regulation Authority), Treasury and a number of parliamentarians are now coming to us as their source of truth."

Just a few of the stand-out findings of the report, which is now available in its entirety to all MFAA brokers via the MFAA portal, include:

An industry of significant scale

The 2025 figures show broker output growing well ahead of headcount:

• Residential settlements: $495.55 billion, up 23.5% from $401.21 billion.

• Loans settled: 838,815, up 17.2%.

• Home loan applications: 911,150, up 18.4% across eight matched aggregators.

• Broker-originated residential loan book: about $1.17 trillion, up 11.0%.

• Commercial, business and asset finance settled: $52.3 billion, up 27.4% across eight matched aggregators.

Put another way, a residential home loan was facilitated through a mortgage broker every 38 seconds during 2025, which MFAA chief executive Anja Pannek (pictured, right) called “an extraordinary reflection of the role mortgage brokers now play in helping Australians navigate the home lending market”.

Brokers settled approximately 122,800 more loans than in the previous year, and settlement value rose by more than $94 billion. The growth was broad-based. Residential settlement volumes increased in every jurisdiction with valid year-on-year coverage, and applications increased in every state and territory.

"The hero number, which we talk about very proudly, is continued growth in market share," Pannek said. "We have greater output across the industry than we have growth in broker numbers.

"Behind every one of those 838,815 home loans is a person or family making a significant financial decision. They want to understand what is possible for them, what their options are and what those options mean for their individual circumstances."

Broker population passes 24,000

The reported broker population rose 9.1% to 24,116, up from 22,105. That is one broker for every 904 Australian adults, compared with 969 in 2024. Broker numbers grew in every state and territory. New South Wales and the ACT, which the report combines, remained the largest market.

The workforce is also getting slightly younger. Brokers aged 50 and over fell while the 18–25 cohort rose.

Lender diversification broadens

The major banks remained the largest destination for broker-originated lending, although their share of new residential lending dipped slightly, from 44.21% to 43.88%. Other lenders, non-bank lenders and international banks all gained share.

Read more: Commercial broking in a post-budget reset

"It also demonstrates that brokers are recommending clients beyond the Big Four," Pannek said. "This is the true value that brokers bring – better service, competitive pricing, product solutions and innovation."

Industry-level look at clawbacks

For the first time, the report captures clawback trends across the industry. The median gross clawback per broker rose 16.5% to $11,442, based on five matched aggregators. The figure is a median of aggregator-level responses, not individual brokers.

Pannek linked clawbacks to refinancing strong lender competition.

"When refinance activity runs high – as it did during the cashback wars – clawbacks tend to rise. We're in a very competitive environment right now, and that's no doubt what you're hearing from brokers."

This will help strengthen the MFAA's advocacy on the issue.

"Bringing data to the argument will be very powerful, particularly when small business owners are dealing with circumstances outside their control," said Pannek.

Broker income on the rise

Revenue measures rose across the board:

• Aggregate gross upfront commissions: up 21.3% across six matched aggregators.

• Median gross upfront revenue per broker: $126,941, up 16%.

• Median gross trail revenue per broker: $77,894, up 18.7%.

A slow march to consolidation

Brokers working in multi-broker offices rose 17%, while sole-operator numbers were broadly flat. As a result, multi-broker offices grew from 52.9% to 56.8% of classified brokers.

"It feels like the slowest yet most consistent trend we've seen in the industry for a long time," Pannek said. She cautioned that "sole operator" no longer means a broker working alone from home.

"The reality in our industry is that a single broker can have 20 support staff," she said. "Being a sole operator doesn't mean working alone – it comes down to what support you have around you and what your business model looks like."

Gender split barely shifts

Women make up 27.4% of the broker workforce, according to the MFAA's June 2026 Quarterly Survey. That is up just 0.6 percentage points since the September 2024 period. Across seven aggregators, female brokers accounted for 25.6% of residential settlement value in 2025, little changed from 25.9% in 2024.

Read more: What do mortgage brokers think about diversity, equity and inclusion?

The MFAA noted the settlement split does not account for broker numbers by gender, so it should not be read as a comparison of individual broker productivity.

MFAA members can access the report in its entirety via the MFAA portal now.