Not all good news. What is good about - "“This tilts the playing...

Not all good news. What is good about - "“This tilts the playing field in favour of the major lenders with their funding advantages and higher interest rates for existing customers creating an arbitrage that has enabled them to offer discounts and ‘cash back’ deals to lure new customers,” he said.

“It is pleasing to see cash back offers largely being removed from the market. The next quarter will be the time where we see whether the smaller lenders are now able to compete for customers, after being squeezed by the pricing and cash backs on offer.”

A clear example of the impact the actions of the major banks have had on non-major lenders is evident in the flows of volume to AFG Home Loans, which was 5.4% for the quarter, down from a historic high of 10.4% in the same quarter of 2022. “AFG Home Loans took the decision to not write-sub economic loans as the majors leveraged their funding advantages to take market share,” he said. “Reduced competition means Australian homebuyers will inevitably be left with higher real long-term borrowing costs.”