Macquarie touts surging Australian home loan growth

Macquarie Group revealed more strong growth in its home loan business in an operating update on Tuesday, as it shapes up as a fifth major lender helping Australians climb the housing ladder.

Shares in the investment bank and asset manager added one per cent to $214.82 in mid-session trade as investors also cheered upgraded guidance for its commodities income on swinging gas prices that helped boost December-quarter profits.

The bank said its total Australian mortgage book surged 25.2 per cent over the quarter to $172 billion, meaning it had around half the business of fourth-placed lender ANZ at $340 billion in late 2025.

Macquarie’s challenge to the dominance of the big-four home loan lenders of ANZ, Commonwealth Bank, NAB, and Westpac is based on fast processing times and competitive rates for homebuyers looking for larger loans.

At the end of September, CBA still dominated the market for mortgage lending with $603.1b in loans outstanding, while Westpac finished second at $491.8b, and NAB third at $338.4b.

As it pushes deeper into retail banking services, Macquarie also posted a 36 per cent jump in household deposits year-on-year, versus an average growth rate among the big four of 8.6 per cent.

In response to the shock $US300b valuation wipe-out across the global software sector over the past six months, Macquarie also said it had recently conducted a “deep dive” into its exposure and any potential consequences to valuations.

The bank acknowledged that around 25 per cent of its fast-growing private credit lending business is to the software sector, which analysts fear may be poleaxed by new technologies linked to artificial intelligence.

However, Michael Silverton — the bank’s head of its investment banking division, Macquarie Capital — said he was confident the exposure is sound as it only lends to these businesses based on strict valuation metrics.

“We’re clearly watching this closely because the changes to the headlines are coming every day and we’re learning about it at the same time as the market,” Mr Silverton said.

Analysts labelled Tuesday’s operating update as largely in-line with the market’s expectations.

“Overall, we expect the update will have a muted reception by the market,” analysts at Citi said.

“Year-to-date trading is in-line with our expectations. Higher commodities income will come as no surprise to the market given the volatility in gas prices in the US from recent weather events, but this has been largely absorbed by an unexpectedly higher tax rate in the second half.”

Gains at Macquarie’s asset management division were primarily driven by the sale of its North American and European public investments business as well as strong performance fees. In commodities, North American power, gas and emissions saw an increased contribution.

“Macquarie remains well-positioned to deliver superior performance in the medium term with established, diverse income streams,” chief executive Shemara Wikramanayake said in the statement to the ASX, which doesn’t include specific earnings details.