Brokers turn to specialist lenders for investor loans

“We used to use the big four banks a lot as pricing and products were unbeatable,” Mr Brach said.

“Nowadays, we tend to shift some satellite loans to mortgage managers such as Mortgage Mart or AFM who are not taking deposits from the public and have access to funds from different sources at reasonable rates and at much better servicing levels,” he said.

Mr Brach provided one example of a client who is an experienced investor and wanted to finance his next property.

“He can borrow about $200,000 from the majors today, whereas using a mortgage manager who will take existing debt at actual repayments for servicing, he can borrow $800,000,” he said.

Smartmove co-founder and director Simon Orbell said his Sydney brokerage is already starting to use specialist lenders for investor loans.

“Just in terms of that more unique approach that some of the smaller players with a more nimble approach can take towards serviceability and some of the credit policies and niches they create,” Mr Orbell told The Adviser.

“We think that will only continue as lenders realign themselves and find out where those new niches fit.”

With the third-party channel adapting to pricing and policy changes, Mr Orbell said specialist lending is something that most businesses should be looking at a little more closely.

“Not necessarily for the non-conforming deals but more the specialist piece for investor,” he said

“I think brokers really need to focus on re-educating themselves. I think there has been an element of comfort that has been created for a lot of the more experienced players in the market and I think we all need to take this as an opportunity to educate ourselves and our teams and make sure we’re looking at the alternatives out there to provide a better choice and solution for the end consumer.”

Non-bank lender Liberty Financial told The Adviser in August that it is keen to capture investor demand and still has plenty of capacity to write mortgages for property investment.