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Kooky
Builder of Shaka, the payment router that pays every agent their commission on closing date.
About Kooky and Shaka →The typical new home loan arranged for a Queensland borrower is now larger than the typical one in Victoria. The mortgage index published by Australian Finance Group (AFG), one of the country's largest broker networks, puts the average loan lodged in Queensland in the June quarter of 2026 at $704,530, up from $648,597 a year earlier. The Adviser reported the state figures on Tuesday 21 July 2026, five days after AFG's national results.
The rise of $55,933, or 8.6 per cent, came in a quarter when the total value of loans lodged in the state fell. Queensland brokers in the AFG network lodged $5.2 billion of home loans between April and June, 1.8 per cent less than in the same quarter of 2025. Fewer loans, each one bigger, and each one backed by more of the borrower's own money: that is the shape of the state's lending market after three increases in the cash rate.
AFG Mortgage Index for the fourth quarter of 2025-26 (April to June 2026), as reported by The Adviser on 21 July 2026. Loans lodged through AFG brokers only.
What the index measures
AFG is an aggregator: a wholesale group through which independent mortgage brokers send their applications to lenders. Its index counts the loans those brokers lodge each quarter. A lodgement is an application submitted to a lender, so the figures run ahead of settlements and of the official lending statistics.
The index is a sample, not a census. It covers one network, and only loans arranged by brokers. With brokers arranging 81 per cent of new home loans in the March quarter, according to the Mortgage and Finance Association of Australia, a large broker network is a fair window on the market, but its averages are not the same as the Australian Bureau of Statistics figures for all lending and should not be set beside them.
Related readAugust minutes: a fourth rate rise was weighed as loan demand droppedNationally, AFG's brokers lodged $28.1 billion of home loans in the quarter, The Adviser reported on 16 July. The number of loans was 38,583, down from 40,810 in the June quarter of 2025, a fall of about 5.5 per cent. The average loan was a record $727,345, up from $678,333, a rise of about 7.2 per cent.
Queensland beside the other states
Queensland's result sits in the middle of a country moving in two directions. Lodgements fell in the three eastern mainland states and rose in the west and south.
| State | Value lodged | Change on a year earlier | Average LVR |
|---|---|---|---|
| New South Wales | $8.7bn | Down 1.8% | 63% |
| Victoria | $8.1bn | Down 0.6% | 68% |
| Queensland | $5.2bn | Down 1.8% | 59% |
| Western Australia | $4.21bn | Up 14.6% | 60% |
| South Australia | $1.85bn | Up 7.9% | 63% |
AFG Mortgage Index, April to June 2026, as reported by The Adviser on 21 July 2026.
Queensland accounted for about 18.5 per cent of the national total, or a little under one dollar in five. Its fall of 1.8 per cent matched that of New South Wales and was larger than Victoria's.
The contrast with Western Australia is the widest in the table. Lodgements there were 14.6 per cent higher than a year earlier. David Bailey, AFG's chief executive, linked the west's strength to the resources sector and to constraints on housing supply, The Adviser reported.
Bigger loans in every state
The second set of figures shows what each borrower is asking for. Average loan size rose in all five states over the year.
AFG Mortgage Index, April to June 2026, as reported by The Adviser on 21 July 2026.
Queensland now has the second-largest average loan in the AFG figures, behind New South Wales. A year ago its average of $648,597 was below Victoria's $664,061. Victoria's has since risen about 4.5 per cent, to $693,905, and Queensland's 8.6 per cent, enough to change the order.
The fastest growth was elsewhere. Western Australia's average rose from $594,349 to $699,412, close to 18 per cent, and South Australia's from $606,887 to $684,879, about 13 per cent. New South Wales, the most expensive market, grew slowest at about 3.5 per cent, from $778,628.
Related readOne borrower in 50 is short each month, the RBA's stability review findsLoan size follows prices. Where home values have kept rising, buyers need to borrow more for the same kind of home, and the ranking matches the price figures. Cotality's May data, reported by The Adviser on 18 June, had values up 4.8 per cent over the quarter in Perth, 3.4 per cent in Brisbane and 2.8 per cent in Adelaide, and falling in Sydney and Melbourne.
More of the buyer's own money
The third figure is the one that says most about who is still borrowing. The loan-to-value ratio, or LVR, is the loan as a share of the property's value. Queensland's average was 59 per cent in the June quarter, down from 61.9 per cent a year earlier and the lowest of the five states.
A lower LVR with a larger loan means the property behind it is worth a good deal more. On the AFG averages, a loan of $704,530 at 59 per cent corresponds to a property worth about $1.19 million. That is an illustration from two averages, not a measured figure, but it shows the direction: the borrowers lodging applications in Queensland this winter are, on average, buying or refinancing well above the entry level and putting in substantial equity.
That fits how lenders assess loans when rates are high. A bank must test repayments at a rate 3 percentage points above the one it charges. After increases in the cash rate in February, March and May, the households most likely to pass are those with higher incomes or more equity. Buyers with small deposits and tight budgets are the ones who drop out first, and when they do, the average loan size and the average deposit of those who remain both rise.
Related readRefinancing a home loan: the steps, the costs and the lender's checksThe ratio fell in New South Wales and Western Australia as well, to 63 per cent and 60 per cent. Victoria's was unchanged at 68 per cent, the highest of the five, and South Australia's edged up to 63 per cent from 62.8 per cent.
What borrowers chose
AFG's national figures, reported on 16 July, add detail on the kind of loan being written. Standard variable loans made up 87.5 per cent of lodgements. Fixed-rate loans were 3.8 per cent, up from 2.3 per cent a year earlier. That is still a small share, but it is the first sign in the broker data of borrowers looking for certainty after three increases in the cash rate.
The major banks took 58 per cent of lodgements, down from 59.7 per cent, with other lenders on 42 per cent. Among individual groups, Westpac's brands led with 18 per cent, ahead of the Commonwealth Bank and ANZ groups on 16 per cent each and Macquarie on 14 per cent. In refinancing the contest was close to even, with the majors on 52 per cent and other lenders on 48 per cent.
The figures are national, and AFG does not publish the lender split for Queensland in the material reported. They suggest that a Queensland borrower who goes to a broker is being offered a wider spread of lenders than a year ago, and that smaller lenders are winning nearly half of the refinancing business.
How AFG reads the quarter
Mr Bailey described the result as a period of readjustment to fiscal policy changes and not a structural shift, according to The Adviser. The federal Budget, handed down on 12 May, changed the tax treatment of investment property, and he noted caution among investors. In the national release he said some easing had been expected after the strongest March quarter on record, especially with the Budget announcements and a tightening rate cycle falling inside the quarter.
The comparison he draws matters. The year-on-year falls in the eastern states are small because the June quarter of 2025 is the base. Against the March quarter of 2026 the slowdown is plainer: the number of loans lodged nationally fell from 40,784 to 38,583 in three months.
What it means and what comes next
For Queensland sellers and agents, the index describes the buyers who are still active: well-resourced, borrowing heavily in dollar terms but lightly relative to what they are buying. The data cannot say how many such buyers there are, only that they make up a larger part of those applying.
For buyers at the entry level, the figures show the squeeze from the other side. The averages are rising in part because people like them are lodging fewer applications.
For lenders, the fall in the number of loans is the figure that counts. Fewer applications to share explains why several have been cutting rates for new customers without waiting for the Reserve Bank.
AFG publishes its index each quarter, and the next will cover July to September. The Reserve Bank's Monetary Policy Board meets in August, and whichever way it decides, the September quarter figures will be the first to show how Queensland borrowers responded to a full quarter without a rate increase, if that is what they get.
Kooky, from Shaka
Kooky edits Queensland Estate and builds Shaka, the payment router he made for Queensland property professionals. One payment comes in, and every agent, agency and party in the deal receives their signed share on closing date.
