Australia’s largest home lender has tilted even harder towards its own channels while broker-originated volumes remained steady.
The Commonwealth Bank of Australia (CBA), the nation’s largest home lender by market share, unveiled its half-year results for the period ending December 2025 (1H26) on Wednesday (11 February) – confirming proprietary channels captured 67 per cent of new CBA-branded home loans excluding subsidiaries.
CBA’s new fundings leaned heavily into proprietary distribution throughout 1H26 – replicating the 67 per cent direct-channel dominance from 2H25 while edging above earlier patterns.
Stripping out Bankwest and ASB, broker-originated new business came in at 33 per cent of the $83 billion total CBA-branded mortgages settled over the six months.
This was unchanged from the prior half and came in just below the 34 per cent recorded in 1H25.
This left proprietary flows with the lion’s share – translating to around $55.4 billion directed through CBA’s own networks.
CBA emphasised that profitability lay at the heart of the shift and claimed that proprietary home loans yielded 20 to 30 per cent more than broker equivalents on a $600,000 average, once upfront commissions, trailing book payments and lower servicing costs were factored in.
“In home lending we continue to prioritise and grow proprietary distribution, with 55 billion of new fundings originated over the last six months through our own channels,” CBA chief financial officer Alan Docherty said.
In the Q+A session, Richard, a CBA shareholder, pointed out that the bank’s major competitors had been similarly growing proprietary distribution.
He asked Comyn whether the bank believed it could expand the proprietary channel – premised on the belief that it wouldn’t lose any of its existing share, and if the third-party broker portion would fall further.
Comyn said it was a complex matter and stressed that the bank would make “lots of different choices.
“Clearly, proprietary distribution has been a strength for some time, and the team have executed that really well. We have 54 per cent of proprietary mortgage origination, and the other banks are joining and having a greater focus on that,” he said.
“Maybe that helps a little bit to change the perception or customer preference more broadly in the market.”
However, he emphasised that the broker channel was “really important” for the bank moving forward.
“Secondly, the broker channel is a really important distribution for us, and it will be going into the future - so it’s predicated on the continuation of what we have been doing,” he said.
On a pure CBA basis (excluding Bankwest and ASB), proprietary loans comprised 63 per cent of the book by December 2025, nudging up from 62 per cent six months earlier – while the broker share eased to 37 per cent.
Across the wider group including Bankwest yet excluding ASB, the split remained rock-steady at 54 per cent proprietary versus 46 per cent broker from December 2024 through December 2025.
CBA-only originations averaged a heftier $526,000 per loan in the latest half, up from $491,000 previously,
Among these loans, 99 per cent were variable, 59 per cent were owner-occupier and 25 per cent were interest-only.
Further, 7 per cent were under lenders mortgage insurance, while 8 per cent were first home buyers.
Group-wide including Bankwest, 1H26 fundings rocketed to $105 billion from $85 billion in June - lifting average sizes to $522,000, though the owner-occupier share slipped to 57 per cent.
Home loan balances swelled across the board – hitting $659 billion by December 2025 from $634 billion mid-year.
The average is now sitting at $645 billion as accounts hold steady at 1.9 million.
Variable rates gripped 96 per cent of the book, owner-occupiers 67 per cent and interest-only 12 per cent.
Collateral strength shone through as negative equity dipped to 0.6 per cent and mortgagees-in-possession lingered at a mere 1 basis point.
CBA-only spot balances reached $540 billion, up from $523 billion, with customers ahead on repayments jumping to 86 per cent.
Lower rates unlocked fresh borrowing power, with 90 per cent of applicants carrying spare capacity by December 2025.
Demand was centred on higher earners, with most applications and borrower clusters sitting between $200,000 and $500,000 gross incomes.
Repayment resilience also stood out starkly, with average payments in advance hitting 35 per cent by December 2025 - matching pre-pandemic peaks after dipping to 31 per cent a year earlier.
Meanwhile, 90+ day arrears came in at 0.63 per cent group-wide and 0.6 per cent at Bankwest.
A total of 87 per cent of accounts were paid ahead, including 37 per cent who paid more than two years in advance.
As reported by sister title Broker Daily, the major bank reported that business lending had reached $168 billion, with the figure up 12 per cent from $150 billion in December 2024 and well above the $90 billion recorded in December 2019.
Margins steady amid deposit battle
The net interest margin slipped to 2.04 per cent, down 4 basis points reported, yet flat on an underlying basis, as deposit pricing pressures countered lending gains.
Deposits funded 79 per cent of the balance sheet, up from 73 per cent pre-COVID-19.
Cash net profit after tax climbed 6.1 per cent to $5.4 billion, with operating income rising 6.6 per cent to $6,021 billion.
Household debt eased to 132 per cent of gross disposable income.
The bank restated in the results that it believed the RBA would hike interest rates by 25 basis points in May and then hold the cash rate steady at 4.10 per cent.
Reflecting on this performance against economic and geopolitical strains, CBA chief executive officer Matt Comyn emphasised the bank’s fortified position to keep supporting households and businesses.
"Our balance sheet settings remain resilient with strong levels of capital, deposit funding and provisioning given the economic backdrop and geopolitical issues," he said.
[Related: Share of proprietary loans grows at CBA, new AI partnership announced]
