Major banks in Australia have held back passing the Reserve Bank of Australia’s (RBA) rate cuts in full to borrowers, enabling smaller lenders to join the competition, according to the 2013 Deloitte Australian Mortgage Report. These include National Australia Bank, Westpac, Commonwealth Bank and Australia and New Zealand Banking Group.
However, lending and housing market growth are forecast to remain weak in 2013, urging lenders to work harder to keep their clients and attract new ones.
Australia’s big banks, which have cemented their grip on the mortgage market since the 2008 global financial crisis, have caused outrage by not passing in full the latest rate cuts by the RBA.
Nonetheless, their actions helped smaller lenders enter the game, noted Graham Mott, Banking Partner at Deloitte.
“Non-banks now have the opportunity to make a profit in the prime mortgage space.”
Less than a year ago, the cost of wholesale funding or money borrowed from overseas was too high for small lenders to borrow at profitable rates.
“The credit spread is widening through the activity that the major banks have taken – effectively, not passing on the full cash rate changes has given the non-banks room to play,” Mott added.
Romesh Navaratnarajah, Senior Editor of PropertyGuru, wrote this story. To contact him about this or other stories email romesh@propertyguru.com.sg
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