Suncorp ranks as top non-major bank first-home buyer lender as Commonwealth Bank grabs lion’s share of market: AFG

Queensland-based bank Suncorp financed 6.1% of all first-home buyer loans arranged by AFG mortgage brokers over December, according to new AFG figures.

It was the top-ranked lender outside the major banks with nearly 40% of all first-home buyer home loans processed in December either financed by the Commonwealth Bank or its subsidiary Bankwest, the latest AFG’s quarterly Competition Index shows.

Second on the non-major bank list was AFG’s own mortgage products, which accounted for 5% of all first-home buyer loans, up from 1.9% at the start of the year.

The other non-major bank lenders to appeal to first-home buyers were WA government-owned lender KeyStart with 4.9% of the market, recording the “most dynamic performance among non-major lenders” growing market share from just 0.1% in January.

ING Direct (2.1%) and South Australian government lender Homestart (1.1%) were the only other non-major bank lenders to pick up more than 1% of the first-home buyer market.

According to the index, the CBA accounted for 29.6% and Bankwest for 9.3% of all first home loans in December with the major banks taking 77.5% of the first-home buyer mortgage market.

The Commonwealth Bank’s success with first-home buyers has helped it pick up overall mortgage market share, which has risen from 17.4% in January to 20.7%

Despite accounting for nearly one in 10 first-home buyer home loans in December, Bankwest’s share of the total mortgage market has fallen from 7% to 4.2% over the past 12 months.

AFG bills itself as Australia’s largest mortgage broker, with its brokers writing one in 10 home loans in Australia.

NON MAJOR LENDER MARKET SHARE FIRST HOME BUYERS DECEMBER

Suncorp 6.1%

AFG 5.0%

ING 2.1%

Citibank 0.7% -

Macquarie 0.2%

Circle 0.2%

AMP 0.4% -

ME Bank 0.8%

Liberty 0.4%

Pepper 0.1%

Homestart 1.1%

Wide Bay 0.8%

Adelaide 0.1%

Heritage 0.3%

Rock 0.1%

Keystart 4.9%

Other 0.3%

All Non 22.5%