Non‑bank lender OwnHome has signed a technology partnership with NextGen as it accelerates its expansion through the Australian mortgage broker channel.
The deal will see OwnHome adopt NextGen’s ApplyOnline platform, giving the lender a scalable lodgement and assessment workflow as it grows distribution with aggregators and broker groups.
That focus on the third‑party channel comes as mortgage brokers now sit at the centre of Australia’s home lending market, with MFAA data showing they facilitated 76.7% of new residential home loans in the December quarter – more than three in four new mortgages.
OwnHome specialises in solutions offering up to 100% LVR without lenders mortgage insurance for creditworthy borrowers who do not have a 20% deposit or family assistance.
That model is aimed squarely at first‑home buyers who are being squeezed by deposit and serviceability hurdles, even as activity at the entry level lifts. Cotality analysis shows first‑home buyer lending jumped 6.8% by volume and 15.5% by value in Q4, with first‑home buyers now making up 29.6% of owner‑occupier lending as they compete with investors for lower‑priced stock.
OwnHome co‑founder James Bowe (pictured right) said demand from the third‑party channel has been strong.
“We’ve seen incredible demand from brokers and their clients who are ready to buy but don’t have access to a 20% deposit or the Bank of Mum and Dad. NextGen’s platform gives us the technology foundation to meet that demand at scale,” Bowe said.
Under the integration, brokers will be able to submit OwnHome applications through ApplyOnline, with data and supporting documents flowing directly into OwnHome’s origination environment.
This means brokers can lodge once through their familiar ApplyOnline interface, with commissions payable on both the OwnHome deposit loan and the paired traditional mortgage.
Central to the partnership is NextGen’s Financial Passport, which bundles open banking data, Access Seeker Credit Report, and NextGenID digital identity verification. The use of verified Consumer Data Right data is designed to strengthen applications from first touchpoint through to credit decision.
For brokers, the back‑end decisioning is just as important as front‑end lodgement. Verified Financial Passport data feeds into Slate, OwnHome’s AI credit decisioning platform, which applies the lender’s credit policy consistently across every file.
“ApplyOnline and the Financial Passport bring broker-submitted applications into OwnHome with verified data from day one. That’s exactly what Slate – our AI credit decisioning platform – needs to deliver decisions in minutes rather than days, with credit policy applied consistently on every application,” Bowe said. “Together, it means brokers get certainty for their clients, faster.”
“We work with over 60 lenders across Australia, and it’s always exciting to partner with innovators like OwnHome who are actively removing barriers to homeownership,” NextGen’s head of lender partnerships, Mike Ponsonby (pictured right), said.
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