# Closing the Experience Gap: How Australia and New Zealand Lenders Earn Borrower Loyalty _Published: 2026-07-06T00:00:00.000-04:00_ Borrowers in Australia and New Zealand are switching at record rates. See why experience beats rate and how leading lenders pull ahead. _Rate gets a lender noticed, but in Australia and New Zealand's high-switching market, experience is what earns lasting borrower loyalty. _ The lenders growing fastest in Australia and New Zealand share one trait, and it isn’t the sharpest rate. They deliver a borrower experience that’s fast, clear and smart, and borrowers reward them for it. In a market where customers switch at record rates and measure every lender against the digital services they use elsewhere, experience has become the clearest path to growth. The signals are hard to miss. Australia’s broker channel now settles 81% of all new residential home loans, the highest share on record, [according to Australian Broker](https://www.brokernews.com.au/news/breaking-news/brokers-hit-record-high-settling-81-of-new-home-loans-289487.aspx). In New Zealand, [30% of all new mortgage commitments in June 2025](https://www.ainvest.com/news/shifting-tides-zealand-mortgage-market-record-switching-falling-rates-reshaping-lending-competition-unlocking-real-estate-opportunities-2508/) came from borrowers switching lenders, a record in both dollar terms and share. And across 2025, [more than 640,000 Australian home loans were refinanced or switched](https://www.ausbanking.org.au/new-data-shows-record-number-of-australians-refinancing-their-home-loan/), a 20% jump on the prior year and the largest refinancing wave on record. Borrowers are in motion, and every interaction is a chance to win one for life. ## **Borrowers Set the Bar, and They Set It Outside Banking** Your borrowers arrive with expectations shaped by every digital service they use. They want to upload documents in real time, track their application’s progress, and get answers in the journey without picking up the phone. [IDC research sponsored by nCino](https://explore.ncino.com/idc-mortgage-report/?utm_source=Website&utm_medium=ThoughtLeadership&utm_campaign=APAC-MO--MOR-ClosingExperienceGapANZ) found 68% of Australia and New Zealand mortgage executives name waiting times as the primary source of friction in the home-buying journey, the single most-cited pain point across the region. With online applications forecast to climb from [23% of all applications today to 30% within five years](https://explore.ncino.com/idc-mortgage-report/?utm_source=Website&utm_medium=ThoughtLeadership&utm_campaign=APAC-MO--MOR-ClosingExperienceGapANZ), the lenders that meet this expectation early will set the standard everyone else has to match. ## **You’re Starting From a Position of Strength** Here’s the part that often gets overlooked: lenders in Australia and New Zealand already [close faster than most global peers](https://explore.ncino.com/idc-mortgage-report/?utm_source=Website&utm_medium=ThoughtLeadership&utm_campaign=APAC-MO--MOR-ClosingExperienceGapANZ) and rate their own customer experience more highly. That’s a head start to build on, not a gap to close. Globally, [nearly half of all banks still take two to four weeks to process a mortgage application](https://explore.ncino.com/idc-mortgage-report/?utm_source=Website&utm_medium=ThoughtLeadership&utm_campaign=APAC-MO--MOR-ClosingExperienceGapANZ). The institutions that turn an existing edge into a faster, clearer borrower journey will grow their direct book and compete on far more than price. ## **Three Moments Decide Who Borrowers Choose** Three points in the journey do the most to build or break borrower confidence, and each is an open lane to pull ahead: - **Application complexity. **Multiple document requests, re-keyed data and unclear requirements cause borrowers to disengage before they finish. - **Decisioning opacity. **Borrowers want to know where they stand and when they’ll have an answer, and waiting tops the list of regional frustrations. - **Communication gaps. **When updates aren’t proactive and borrowers have to chase them or repeat themselves, trust erodes fast. The encouraging part: all three are addressable, and the lenders that close them turn friction into a competitive advantage. ## **Get the Full Roadmap** [Beyond the Application: How Lenders Win in the Digital Age](https://downloads.ctfassets.net/ze344jjyx19q/1eRbY48MkbmW035LVFMc28/397ef33d7e7470e4d6917030d5555cf1/nCino_Beyond_the_Application_How_Lenders_Win_in_the_Digital_Age.pdf) sets out the market data, the practical fixes for each friction point, and a four-step roadmap for a winning borrower experience. Discover how the nCino Platform ties it together, bringing the borrower-facing application, underwriting and servicing into one system built for Australia and New Zealand. **Download our **[**full point of view**](https://downloads.ctfassets.net/ze344jjyx19q/1eRbY48MkbmW035LVFMc28/397ef33d7e7470e4d6917030d5555cf1/nCino_Beyond_the_Application_How_Lenders_Win_in_the_Digital_Age.pdf)** to see how leading lenders are building direct-channel growth on a borrower experience that wins customers and keeps them.** --- [View sitemap](https://www.ncino.com/api/markdown/sitemap)