The return of the mortgage specialists 11 November 2014 4:27PM John Kavanagh New housing finance commitments made by mortgage specialists are growing faster than new commitments by banks, according to the Australian Bureau of Statistics.The latest ABS housing finance figures show that mortgage specialists (which the ABS classifies as 'non-banks') have recorded higher rates of growth in the number and value of new housing finance commitments than banks in all but two of the past 12 months.In September, the value of new housing finance commitments made by mortgage specialists to owner-occupiers increased by five per cent, compared with the previous month, while the value of new housing finance commitments by banks to owner-occupiers increased by 1.1 per cent.The number of new commitments by mortgage specialists grew by 3.6 per cent in September, while the number of new commitments by banks fell by 1.1 per cent.This follows a report from mortgage aggregator AFG over the weekend, saying the majors' share of mortgages written by AFG brokers has fallen steadily over the past year.As the mortgage market has maintained its steady improvement brokers have been looking to add new lenders to their panels, especially where those lenders can offer product variety.Another development pushing the trend is that smaller financial institutions have had easier access to capital markets and, flush with funds, have been pursuing more aggressive distribution strategies.Overall, the value of new housing finance commitments rose by 2.3 per cent in September, compared with the previous month (in seasonally adjusted terms).Lenders made housing finance commitments worth A$28.8 billion in September, up 13.4 per cent on September last year.The value of loans to owner-occupiers rose 1.4 per cent in September, while the value of loans to residential property investors rose 3.7 per cent. Loans to investors made up 41.4 per cent of the total.The number of new finance commitments for owner-occupiers fell 0.7 per cent in September, compared with the previous month.The average loan size was $326,500.