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Brokers rate pricing and credit assessment as crucial, but satisfaction levels lag behind, Agile Market Intelligence has found.
Credit assessment staff and product pricing have underperformed against broker expectations despite being rated highly important, according to research from Agile Market Intelligence.
The 2025 Broker Pulse Third-Party Lending Report found that product pricing and credit assessment were both rated above 90 per cent in importance for brokers, but their satisfaction scores fell short of satisfaction benchmarks relative to other areas of the mortgage process.
Broker feedback, which was gathered in a national survey of 1,000 residential mortgage brokers conducted between February and May 2025, flagged the two areas as frequent dealbreakers, especially in complex or time-sensitive applications.
Product pricing by lenders received a performance score from brokers of 75.2 per cent compared to an importance score of 91.1 per cent.
Similarly, brokers rated credit assessment staff with an importance score of 90.1 per cent versus a performance rating of 76.7 per cent.
The performance scores for both areas were comfortably below the 77.4 per cent average and also lower than those for business development managers and turnaround times, despite all ranking similarly in importance.
The low performance scores come despite product pricing, product policy, and credit assessment staff being listed as the top three decision drivers for brokers, each cited as “extremely” or “very” important by over 94 per cent of respondents.
“When brokers weigh up where to place a loan, it’s not your website or chatbot that makes the difference, it’s pricing, policy clarity, and whether your credit team can get the deal done,” Michael Johnson, Agile Market Intelligence director, said.
Broker satisfaction up, but expectations rise faster
The average broker satisfaction score reached 77 per cent in 2025, Agile research found, tying the highest recorded level in the last 15 years.
Broker satisfaction with speed also rose, jumping from 62 per cent in 2021 to 79 per cent in 2025, another record high.
Technology ratings increased from a post-COVID-19 low of 72 per cent in 2020 to 77 per cent in 2025. Personnel and product satisfaction saw more gradual recovery, both rebounding from pandemic-era dips.
The research broadly showed lenders making progress in delivering faster turnarounds, better support, and more reliable tech platforms, areas that directly impact broker workflow.
With speed and technology scoring on par with personnel and products, lenders have closed longstanding experience gaps, Agile’s research noted.
“The data tells a strong story, turnaround times and tech experience used to be major liabilities. Now they’re strengths brokers can rely on,” Johnson said.
“However, for lenders who fail to keep up with their peers, they will seem to perform negatively even if they have objectively improved their proposition.”
Research found stronger broker demand for smoother processes, clearer policy interpretation, and faster turnaround times.
Specifically, brokers called for clearer communication and better support; more consistent policies; and faster, more predictable processing.
Macquarie overtakes majors
Agile’s research found that Macquarie Bank has surpassed the majors to become the most commonly used lender in the third-party channel.
Macquarie’s rise was attributed to its superior service quality, turnaround performance, and overall broker satisfaction, demonstrating that non-major lenders can capture significant market share by excelling in service delivery.
Westpac emerged as the highest-ranked major bank, securing ninth place out of 38 lenders, while all of the big four have made improvements in broker satisfaction since 2021.
[Related: What do brokers think of the major banks?]
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