A survey of mortgage brokers from Australia’s leading mortgage broker platform HashChing has revealed the state of mortgage broker sentiment on government subsidy programs, and how brokers see the pandemic affecting the property market.

CEO of HashChing, Arun Maharaj, said while the global pandemic was having a significant impact on the mortgage broker industry, many brokers were generally optimistic about their future outlook. 

“Brokers have been forced to adapt how they interact with customers, and there’s no doubt that challenges have come with having to transition to a fully digital operation. Yet we’re seeing brokers pivot strategies and take advantage of new digital tools and technologies; 91% of respondents in our latest survey said that Digital Mortgage provisions enacted during lockdown (e.g. allowing the witnessing of documents to happen via video call, electronic signing of deeds, etc) should be made permanent. 

“I’m pleased to see many brokers are doing their due diligence in getting comfortable and efficient with working and communicating with customers remotely. In fact, the majority of respondents (57%) said they believed the coronavirus lockdown disruption will have a net positive impact long term for their business. During these difficult times, it’s of course important to be realistic and take the time to review current processes, but having an optimistic attitude goes a long way,” continued Mr Maharaj. 

The majority of brokers surveyed (83%) said they supported the extension of government subsidy programs such as JobKeeper. 60% believe that the property market will be severely impacted if these programs are cancelled.

“While we don’t yet know exactly what impact the global pandemic will have on our economy, it’s been very severe already. Many are predicting it will get much worse before it gets better. It’s therefore not surprising that none of our respondents think now is a good time for property investors to be buying more property. 81% of respondents think that now is a better time for first home buyers,” concluded Mr Maharaj.