As we start a new calendar year, we asked brokers how they intend to grow their business in 2026.
Following a record year for mortgage lending and broker market share having hit new heights in 2025, we asked brokers how they were preparing for further growth in 2026. Here’s what they had to say...
Ambitious growth through M&A and expertise
Darren Little, Smartmove-Professional Mortgage Advisors
We’ve got really strong aspirations to grow. That growth is going to come in two formats. One through organic growth, and we’ve got a lot of things that we’re doing across the group to do so. But also through M&A, we’re bringing in a PE firm at the moment that will settle in the next two months, which is quite exciting. They’re a global financial service player that we really are pretty upbeat about. It’s very much around bringing expertise, whether it be tech or HR. All of a sudden, this group’s got around 150 investments globally.
Scaling operations and national reach
Katie Thomas, Focus Finance
We’re absolutely full steam on scale. So, we have really geared up our systems and processes and our back-end support team. We’ve got in some really great operational staff to be able to build that out. That is exactly our intention. We already have a lead “problem” in terms of being able to service everybody. So, we need to be able to service that in a high-quality way. We really want to be able to do that more broadly across the country – not just localised. So, we really are having bigger conversations to expand.
Maintaining quality, building processes, and ensuring we can meet demand are central to growth. Operational strength and national expansion are our key focus for FY26 and FY27.
Recruitment, marketing, and broker-centric model
Phil Rogers, Loan Market Edge
We’ve made some really big decisions on the clarity of where we want the business to go… coming off the tools and presenting to the team in a different role is working better than we could have expected. I was the pain point in a lot of things.
Now that we move into that operator-owner dialogue, we’ve gone to market from a recruitment point of view with PAYG and JV models. Everyone is fully aware and excited about the next phase.
We will start recruiting primarily more brokers, bringing on a head of marketing to be branding and profiling brokers, benchmarking against real estate, and more key additions will allow us to grow quickly.
Branding, tech, and team optimisation
Chris Dodson, Mortgages Plus
We’re actually building out some more services pages on my website, working with a developer and an SEO person. I think that’s really important to nail down your niches and get the wording and the copyright this day and age. If you don’t make an impression within 5–10 seconds on any type of technology, you lose clients. The important part I’m trying to get to here is clear, concise, simple wording that illustrates what you do and how you can benefit them first.
I’m at the fortuitous stage where hiring is very much a priority. When I was a one-person band – lead gen, marketing, lodgements, post-settlement was all on me. I hope to find someone who relishes what I find draining. Then I can focus on client service and brand growth.
Continuing to embrace technology and smooth client experience is also central.
Sustainable asset growth and new hires
Felix Katzen, Katzen Financial Group
I’m really excited for 2026, I think it’s going to be a massive year for us. But the business is 18 months old, and I don’t want to grow too quickly. So I think we’ll get maybe one or two more people on this year (a broker and either credit or sales, depending on which area we were lacking), and then we’ll probably stabilise the next 12 months before we keep growing. I think at maximum capacity, we would probably be 10–15 people, in terms of staff. I think if we’re doing kind of anywhere between $10–$15 million a month in volume, which is pretty significant, especially for asset finance.
I do think about looking at residential property lending all the time, especially for the trail commission, which is a big bonus. But I think it’s difficult to try and master everything. We’re really good at asset finance, and I think we’ve got that process down really, really well. So, I think we’re probably just going to stick at what we’re really good at for some time.
Scaling new offices and bringing in a coach
Steph Thomas, Loan Market Ignite
2026 is very much about getting the same foundational growth that we have with our Auchenflower office in our new offices. We opened one in Ipswich and one in Buderim recently, so we want to make these powerhouses too, the same as our Brisbane office. We want to have that same growth and the same customer experience and same customer interaction. So we’re very heavily leaning into growing out those two offices and those teams. That will be our primary focus this year.
We have also engaged a business coach that we’ll start working with this year to work on these goals. I think you sometimes need a third party to sit down and mediate and help guide you in what you need to do every day. While we know what we need to write to be able to pay the bills and manage what we have, it’s good to have somebody sit back and help you dissect what that looks like for the next stage. So, I’m excited to work on that journey with them.
How are you preparing your broking business for growth in 2026? Let us know in the comments below!
[Related: Broker market share continues to dominate]
