A leading brokerage has acquired a longstanding mortgage broking firm in Ballarat, as it widens its reach in regional Victoria.
Empower Wealth, one of the Top 25 Brokerages in the country, specialises in property investment and advisory.
It has revealed it has purchased mortgage brokerage Real Estate Home Loans (REHL), a Ballarat-based brokerage founded in 2000.
The regional brokerage specialises in mortgage broking and financial literacy education to regional borrowers.
The acquisition was formally completed on 24 December, with REHL operating under Empower’s business unit and the company’s founder, Paul Ballinger, and his business partner Grant Newell joining the Empower Wealth team.
Announcing the acquisition on Wednesday (14 January), Empower stressed that REHL would continue to trade under its “well recognised” brand, but would be “powered by Empower Wealth Mortgage Advisory”.
Empower’s business development director, Sam Boer, said the acquisition was highly significant and represented an “exciting opportunity” for the company to grow its presence in regional Victoria.
“Paul and Grant have built a business with deep client relationships and strong community trust,” Boer said.
“By bringing Real Estate Home Loans into the Empower Wealth group, we can provide them access to our best-in-class client solutions and our national award-winning customer service tools and workflows.”
Boer described the merger as a “win for clients, the REHL team, and Empower Wealth alike”.
REHL’s founder, Ballinger, said the acquisition was a victory for both the business and its clients and that the brokerage would now have a raft of new services at its disposal, given Empower Wealth’s integrated mortgage broking, financial planning, tax, and buyer’s agency services.
Clients would also be able to access Moorr, Empower Wealth’s household money tracking platform.
“For over two decades, our focus at Real Estate Home Loans has been on helping our clients secure the right home loans and building trusted, long-term relationships,” he said.
“By joining forces with Empower Wealth, we can now go further – offering clients not just mortgage broking, but a complete range of professional advice services across property, wealth, super and tax.”
Ballinger said the decision to merge was an “easy one” as the two companies shared “values and culture”.
“Empower Wealth’s mission of guiding households to financial peace really resonated with us,” he said.
“We’re excited that our clients will now benefit from greater expertise, broader services, and access to innovative tools like the Moore platform. This marks the start of an exciting new chapter for Real Estate Home Loans, our clients, and our team.”
Empower Wealth founder and managing director, Ben Kingsley, said the brokerage was attracted to REHL’s focus on “education and guidance” and noted that both companies believe “clients are the heroes”.
“They take action – and that shared belief is why this partnership made sense,” Kingsley said.
“Together, we believe every household deserves the opportunity to achieve financial wellbeing.”
Brokerage acquisitions abound in 2026
Empower Wealth’s acquisition of REHL follows a spate of mergers and acquisitions in the broker space in the past few weeks, with several large brokerages announcing acquisitions.
Flint unveiled in early January its expansion into Queensland after opening a Brisbane office following a merger with James Green’s FPW Group.
Meanwhile, major brokerage Inovayt revealed last week that it had opened an arm in Adelaide, after acquiring Fresh Home Loans, the finance arm of local real estate company Ouwens Casserly Real Estate.
On Friday, major brokerage Australian Lending & Investment Centre (ALIC) revealed it was opening new offices in Geelong and the Gold Coast over the course of 2026 and will launch a new franchise model later this year.
[Related: Brokerage reveals new EGM as it builds franchise model]
