Brokers Spend 11% of Their Time Educating Clients — and It Shows

Comparing 2017 with 2024, Deloitte found broker time has shifted decisively towards the front of the process. Initial consultation rose from 10% to 15% of time, preliminary assessment from 6% to 10%, and education and advice now accounts for 11%. Roughly one third of broker time is spent assisting a client before they commit to finding a loan.

Why the shift happened

Australia ranks in the top ten countries for financial literacy, yet an estimated 8.5 million adults — 45% — had low financial literacy in 2020. Brokers reported that 41% of their customers had lower perceived financial literacy. Meanwhile, automation absorbed the mechanical stages: application preparation fell from 24% to 18% of time, and product recommendation from 18% to 9%.

Who benefits most

• First home buyers make up 45% of brokers' owner-occupier clients, versus 30% of the overall market
• More than 1 in 4 broker-arranged mortgages (26%) are for customers in regional and rural areas
• Brokers present three loan options on average to each customer
• Owner occupiers account for 46% of the client base, investors 19%, refinancing owner occupiers 22% and refinancing investors 12%

Deloitte links this to access: first home buyers, regional customers and borrowers with unconventional lending histories face barriers that a broker's panel and process directly reduce. Where branch networks have contracted, particularly regionally, brokers have absorbed the advisory role.

Education is a retention mechanism

A client who understands why their loan was structured a certain way is a client who calls you before responding to a competitor's offer. The 11% figure is not overhead — it is the investment that produces the 72% of business coming from repeat customers and referrals.

Source: Deloitte Access Economics, The Value of Mortgage and Finance Broking 2025, prepared for the MFAA (February 2025).