Granite seeks brokers to sell its 'no deposit' loans
The low interest rate environment has sparked a scramble by lenders for high credit quality borrowers, with no deposit loans set to make a highly conditional comeback.Yesterday, in the wake of the decision by the Reserve Bank of Australia board to maintain the official cash rate at 1.5 per cent, came an announcement by self-described "online mortgage marketplace" HashChing that it is "bringing back" the no-deposit home loan for qualifying borrowers.This is unsurprising, given the observation by RBA governor Phillip Lowe that growth in credit extended to owner-occupiers has eased over the past year, although "conditions remain soft and rent inflation remains low". "At the same time, the demand for credit by investors in the housing market has slowed noticeably as the dynamics of the housing market have changed," Lowe said."Mortgage rates remain low and there is strong competition for borrowers of high credit quality."The hoops for borrowers to jump through - as outlined in a statement from HashChing's PR firm - include a tertiary education, annual income of A$150,000 (or $180,000 combined income for couples) and "income stability in a professional field". HashChing's chief operating officer, Siobhan Hayden, said this offer is an iteration of an "already accepted practice for medical and legal professionals to be granted 90 per cent LVR with lender's mortgage insurance waived". The mortgage broker portal was aiming to "broaden the offer to other professions such as those in finance, IT and engineering fields," Hayden said.Despite the rhetoric, this sounds like the same cohort of borrowers targeted by local banks, global players such as Citi and HSBC, and large specialist lenders.And what Hayden also omitted to mention was that the major eligibility criteria for HashChing's 100 per cent home loan product are so closely in lockstep with an offer announced by Granite Home Loans, another marketplace lender, that it's almost certain that Granite has quietly joined the other 80-plus lenders on the HashChing mortgage panel.Granite is a new outfit, set up by a group of experience industry executives. Its funding model remains a mystery.The Granite100 no deposit products are shown on its website as having a "blended rate" of 6.5 per cent annually, dropping down to a standard variable rate of 5.16 per cent "based on [an] assumed repayment model."The fine print here indicates that the 100 per cent loan includes a second mortgage, one that should be repaid in five or six years - hence the higher "blended rate" over this period.