Mortgage brokers increasingly sought out by property investors: PIPA survey
More property investors are choosing to use mortgage brokers to secure finance, the third annual Property Investment Professionals of Australia (PIPA) Property Investor Sentiment Survey has found in the face of tighter lending conditions.
The national survey, which gathered insights from 742 property investors, found that 73 per cent of investors used the services of a mortgage broker to secure their most recent loan – up significantly from 65 per cent two years before.
And in the next 12 months, 83 per cent of investors intend to finance their next loan through a broker – up from 71 per cent last year.
By far most investors (68 per cent) think it is unfair they have to pay higher interest rates compared to owner occupiers, the results showed.
Yet, despite the changes in lending serviceability over the past two years, the largest proportion of investors (38 per cent) report no difficulty refinancing, although a significant minority (28 per cent) aren’t sure, and 22 per cent said they are having difficulty refinancing.
Given lenders are charging higher interest rates for interest-only loans, 30 per cent of investors said they either have switched or intend to switch to principal and interest repayments, however an even bigger proportion (36 per cent) said they have no plans to switch.
PIPA chair Ben Kingsley said that the survey results confirmed that sophisticated investors were prepared to use professionals to help their grow their portfolios.
"The restrictive lending environment for investors across the nation may have removed some of the speculation out of the market, but is also preventing some sophisticated investors from investing in their financial futures as well as adding to the supply of rental properties," Mr Kingsley said.
"Our survey results show that rather than be defeated, educated property investors are opting to use professionals to assist them to achieve their goals – regardless of the lending environment."