There’s no single right answer to whether a mortgage broker or your own bank is the better way to get a first home loan — the two paths differ in real, factual ways, and which suits you depends on your circumstances. Here are the factors, laid out without a pick.

What does a mortgage broker do?

A mortgage broker is a credit-licensed intermediary who can compare home loan products from a panel of multiple lenders on your behalf, rather than from just one. Brokers are typically remunerated by the lender whose product is selected, and that arrangement — along with any other relevant interests — must be disclosed to you as part of the process.

Since 1 January 2021, mortgage brokers have been subject to a best interests duty under Part 3-5A of the National Consumer Credit Protection Act 2009: when a broker provides credit assistance on a regulated credit product like a home loan, they must act in your best interests and give your interests priority where they conflict with the broker’s own (ASIC’s best interests duty guidance for mortgage brokers, RG 273, as at July 2026).

What does going directly to your bank offer instead?

Going directly to a bank you already hold accounts with means you’re looking at one lender’s own product range, assessed by that lender’s own staff. You lose the cross-lender comparison a broker can offer, but you keep a process that runs through a single institution, and — if you already bank there — a relationship and transaction history that lender can already see. Whichever path you take, the lender doing the assessing must hold an Australian Credit Licence and is bound by the same responsible-lending obligations — the regulatory floor doesn’t change between a broker-arranged loan and one arranged directly.

What actually differs between the two paths?

Factor	Mortgage broker	Going direct to your bank
Product range considered	Multiple lenders on the broker’s panel	One lender’s own products only
Existing relationship	None, unless you also bank elsewhere	May already exist (accounts, history)
Who assesses the application	The chosen lender, via the broker	The bank’s own staff
Regulatory obligations	Same ACL/responsible-lending framework	Same ACL/responsible-lending framework
Process	One point of contact across lenders	Single-institution process

Neither column guarantees a better rate or a smoother approval — the table sets out what’s structurally different, not which is preferable.

How do I weigh this for my own situation?

If comparing several lenders’ products in one process matters to you, a broker’s panel access is built for that. If you’re comfortable with your existing bank’s products and value keeping the process to one institution you already have a relationship with, going direct avoids introducing a third party into the transaction. Some buyers do both — get a broker’s assessment and a quote directly from their own bank — before deciding. None of these approaches is right or wrong; they trade off differently against what you personally value in the process.

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So, broker or bank?

As at July 2026, that isn’t a question this article can answer for you — it depends on how much you value cross-lender comparison against an existing relationship with a single lender, and neither path is disparaged or preferred here. A mortgage broker can set out what their panel offers you; your bank can set out what it offers directly. Where you’re weighing this alongside your broader finances, a licensed financial adviser can help you think it through.

However you approach the lender side, banks and brokers alike assess borrowing capacity using a broadly similar framework — see our guide to how banks calculate borrowing capacity for more on what actually moves that outcome.

For a broader look at what it takes to get into your first home, see our guide to how much deposit you need for a first home in Australia.