As home loan applications drop, the big four banks face a growing challenge from Macquarie

Over the past week, all four of Australia’s biggest banks have reported falls of between 12% to 20% in new home loan applications since the May federal budget.

After announcing it would keep interest rates on hold , the Reserve Bank confirmed demand for new home loans has “ declined noticeably ”.

For anyone currently in the market for a new or refinanced home loan, that’s good to know – because banks are now competing even harder to win customers.

The big four’s dominance is waning Since the start of June, at least 31 smaller lenders – though not yet the biggest four – have begun offering slightly lower variable home loan rates for new customers.

One of them is Macquarie Bank .

It’s grown its share of Australia’s mortgage market from just 0.19% in 2010 to now being the fifth-largest home loan lender, with 7.33% of home loans by June this year.

That’s still far less than “the big four” had in June this year : Commonwealth Bank, with 25.36% of home loans, the only major bank to maintain its market share since 2010 (when it had 25.27% ) Westpac on 20.66% (down from 26.84% in 2010) NAB’s 14.03% (down from 15.68% in 2010) and ANZ’s 13.21% (down from 15.31% in 2010).

But the direction of change has been striking.

In the eight years that outgoing chief executive Shemara Wikramanayake has overseen Macquarie Group and Macquarie Bank, its Australian mortgage portfolio grew from $A34.3 billion to $191.5 billion in June 2026: more than fivefold growth.

Earlier this year, Commonwealth Bank’s chief executive Matt Comyn described Macquarie as a “formidable competitor” on home loans.

What is Macquarie’s strategy – and could it eventually overtake its bigger rivals? Heavier reliance on mortgage brokers Macquarie has long been best known as a global financial group, with major business in infrastructure and investment banking, rather than as an everyday retail bank.

Its profitability – including investments in projects from toll roads to airports – earned its nickname as “ the millionaire’s factory ”.

But more recently, Macquarie Bank has expanded rapidly into home loans , without reproducing the business structure of the big four banks.

Across the industry, mortgage brokers facilitate around 81% of all Australian mortgages.