Mortgage broker Costa Demetriou (pictured) says the industry needs to do more to educate Australians about lending. His firm, Madd Loans, already runs free property seminars and visits schools to teach students about money, lending, and getting into the property market.
Demetriou says housing affordability is one of the industry’s biggest challenges, particularly for first-home buyers.
“We’re seeing people earning good incomes and saving hard but still struggling to get into the property market,” he said.
Constant changes to lender policy add to the confusion, in his view, making it hard for borrowers to work out their borrowing capacity or what options they have.
Demetriou’s answer is to reach buyers well before they apply for a loan. Alongside its public seminars, Madd visits schools to explain how lending works and what it takes to buy a home.
He described the thinking behind it: “The earlier people understand how the process works, the better prepared they’ll be when the time comes to buy.”
Demetriou wants other brokers to follow suit. In his words: “It’s something I think we need more of across the industry.”
Brokers, he adds, have a duty to stay across policy changes so their advice keeps pace with lenders.
Demetriou sees the growing reliance on brokers as a sign that Australians increasingly value professional guidance. By his estimate, brokers wrote about 56% of new home loans when he joined the industry in 2017, and more than 81% today.
He sees borrowers shopping around far more than when he started, rather than defaulting to their own bank.
The clients who stand out, according to Demetriou, are those who arrive believing they have no chance. Some have already had a bank say no, or not yet. A closer look at their situation can uncover options they didn’t know existed, and where a loan isn’t possible yet, a roadmap still counts as a win.
Demetriou began at Madd as an intern in 2017, after studying law and commerce at the University of Queensland, and became a broker in 2021. He credits George Samios with teaching him the business from the ground up, from lender policy to client work.
His main advice to newcomers is to find a mentor and learn on the job, because real scenarios teach more than theory.
“There’s only so much you can learn from a textbook,” Demetriou said.
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