The air was thick with prognostication yesterday, as both Deloitte and Genworth Financial released their mortgage market outlook reports. The consensus is that the low-growth conditions of 2011 will remain next year.Genworth reported that 34 per cent of lenders it surveyed experienced lower lending volumes this year, compared with 25 per cent in 2010.Twenty-six per cent of lenders said they expected their businesses to contract in 2012. Lenders said they were looking to develop their online businesses to reduce distribution costs and tap new market segments. Sixty-five per cent of lenders said they were looking at ways to increase traffic through their online channel.Lenders were also looking to save costs through more efficient processing and faster turnarounds. Deloitte said its expects growth in mortgage lending to be below six per cent in 2012. "System growth of five per cent is the new normal," said Deloitte banking partner James Hickey.Hickey said lenders would only be able to grow market share by continuing the price war that has raged for most of this year.Deloitte's view is that slow-growth conditions in the mortgage market are pushing lenders and intermediaries to look for growth through cross-sell strategies - adding insurance and wealth management products to their businesses.Genworth reported that the number of first home buyers taking five year or more to save for a home loan deposit has been increasing steadily and is close to 20 per cent of potential first home buyers.Apart from the high cost of housing, personal debt is increasingly a barrier for many first home buyers to save for a deposit.Genworth launched what it called a graduate package, aimed at helping first home buyers with degrees get into the hoe loan market sooner. Graduates will be able to access lenders mortgage insurance on high density dwellings and the minimum time in employment has been reduced.