Around one in three loans from the customer-owned bank went to first home buyers over the year.
Customer-owned lender Great Southern Bank (GSB) has revealed that it has increased home lending across every state and territory for the 2025 financial year.
Home lending was up 6.5 per cent to $17.5 billion for the financial year ending June 2025, boosted by strong uptake among first-time buyers.
Almost a third (29 per cent) of issuance at GSB supported first home buyers, which equates to an additional $1.24 billion lent to the demographic.
GSB’s total deposits increased 2.5 per cent to $14.5 billion for the year.
Home lending growth was geographically broad-based, although there were notable increases in states potentially offering greater housing affordability. These included Tasmania, up 19.9 per cent; South Australia, up 11.6 per cent; and Victoria, up 10.3 per cent.
In Queensland, the bank’s biggest lending market, home lending rose 6.4 per cent year on year.
Net profit after tax was up 15.8 per cent year over year to $43.2 million.
GSB earmarked the funds for reinvestment to improve products, services, and lending opportunities for customers.
Speaking to The Adviser on what drove the rise in home lending, a spokesperson for Great Southern Bank said: “Our growth is the result of targeted investments in technology, process redesign and broker engagement, enabling a more seamless, scalable, and customer-focused home lending experience.”
The lender has also used insights from its annual broker roundtable events to improve its policies, ensuring they better align with the customers brokers most commonly see. For example, it simplified its Self-Employed policy.
SME focus continues
GSB also reaffirmed its focus on small businesses, highlighting that it continues to add new products and services to its digital business platform, Business+.
In partnership with tech firm MYOB and fintech Constantinople, it has also launched its first embedded finance product – a business transaction account that can be opened and managed directly within the MYOB Solo app – designed to meet the cash flow needs of sole business operators.
GSB also refreshed its lenders mortgage insurance (LMI) offering, introducing a new pathway that gives first-time buyers, including rentvestors, access to discounted premiums. The discounts were previously limited to owner-occupiers.
The mutual has also invested in its systems to improve efficiency, resulting in 42 per cent of home lending requests being approved within two days.
GSB’s uptick in first home buyer activity has been boosted by savings products, like the Home Saver account, specifically designed to help customers save for their deposit, while offering a competitive interest rate.
Last year, the challenger bank laid out plans to target nano (sole traders) and microbusinesses (employing less than four people) and committed to grow its small-business offering.
At the time, GSB said that its multi-year investment in technology and service improvements was delivering faster loan decisions and improved customer service.
Paul Lewis, CEO of Great Southern Bank, said: “Our continued growth reflects not only our competitive products, but the fact that more and more Australians are looking for a lender they can trust that shares their values.
“Their support means we have been able to increase our home lending in every state and territory in Australia.
“No country can survive without essential services and notably, more than a quarter [27 per cent] of borrowers we’ve lent to via the Home Guarantee Scheme are key workers. Helping them achieve home ownership is not only life-changing for them, it’s a positive investment in Australia’s future.”
[Related: Brokers help drive growth for Great Southern Bank]
