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The number and proportion of female brokers in the industry have remained stable over the past 12 months, according to MFAA data.
The number of female brokers has remained stable over the past year despite overall broker numbers continuing to rise, according to the Mortgage and Finance Association of Australia (MFAA).
Released on Wednesday (25 June), the MFAA’s latest Industry Intelligence Service (IIS) report – undertaken by research group Cotality (formerly CoreLogic) Comparator – showed the number of female brokers was flat in the six months from April 2024 to September 2024 (3,746 brokers), slipping by three compared to the period prior.
However, year on year, the number of female brokers grew 5.61 per cent.
The number of new female recruits grew 12.63 per cent period on period, but fell 6.46 per cent compared to the prior year equivalent period.
The proportion of female brokers overall inched up by 0.2 percentage points to 26.8 per cent.
MFAA CEO Anja Pannek said the increase in the proportion of females in the industry was promising, but further work was needed to see numbers lift.
The share of female brokers has remained relatively unchanged since 2018, despite several initiatives to tackle the under-representation of women in the broking industry and wider finance sector.
Last month, the MFAA partnered with the Council of Small Business Organisations Australia’s (COSBOA) She Means Business pilot program – a federal government-funded initiative aimed at increasing gender diversity in small businesses.
Major aggregator Finsure Group is offering scholarships worth more than $15,000 that aim to support women in mortgage broking through training, branding, and IT support.
Similarly, in March, aggregation group outsource Financial launched the outsource Women’s Network (OWN) program, in an effort to boost gender equality in finance, while celebrating the achievements of female brokers.
In August 2024, Pannek told The Adviser that there needed to be a continued focus on increasing female representation in broking, as the industry should reflect the demographically diverse community it works with.
Brokers’ diversification drive
The latest MFAA data also showed a continued rise in the number of mortgage brokers writing commercial loans, exceeding 7,000 for the first time on record at 7,023, marking a 24.21 per cent year-on-year increase.
Meanwhile, the total commercial loan book volume from mortgage brokers also reached a record high of $85.89 billion, up 9.95 per cent on the same period in 2023 ($78.12 billion).
Broker market share was at a high of 74.6 per cent of all new home loans in the three months to September 2024.
This has since been surpassed by the record market share in the most recent data for the three months to March 2025.
Women in Finance Summit and Awards, hosted by Momentum Media, recognise and celebrate the leading women influencing the Australian finance industry.
[Related: Record number of mortgage brokers diversifying into commercial]
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