Mortgage Choice's monthly settlements exceed $1 billion

“Over the last 12 months, Mortgage Choice has significantly grown its loan writer numbers,” Mr Russell said.

“At the beginning of 2014, we set ourselves the ambitious target of growing our loan writer numbers by 50.

“Not only did we manage to do just that, but those loan writers are now starting to hit their strides, which is helping our mortgage settlements to grow month after month.”

Mr Russell said he is confident that the group’s settlement volumes will continue to improve.

The December result is a testament to the “ongoing tenacity” of the company’s network of brokers, he said.

“For the last 18 to 24 months, our loan writers have been run off their feet catering to the growing demand for home loans,” he said.

While recent data from NAB and CoreLogic RP Data point to a cooling of house prices over the medium term, Mr Russell is confident the market will remain hot as rates remain at record lows.

“There is no denying the property market has been relatively hot for the last two years and, according to recent data released by the Australian Bureau of Statistics, there is still a lot of heat in the market,” he said.

“Our brokers continue to take advantage of the spike in home loan demand and are using this time as an opportunity to grow their business and their bottom lines.”

With speculation mounting that the Reserve Bank of Australia could be set to cut the official cash rate in the not‐too‐distant future, Mr Russell said the property market should continue to stay relatively hot as more people look to take advantage of the low-rate environment

[Related: John Flavell to replace Michael Russell as CEO]