As Bank Branches Disappear, More Borrowers Are Turning to Brokers

If your local bank branch has felt quieter lately, or has closed altogether, you are not imagining it. New figures from the banking regulator confirm branch numbers keep falling across Australia, even as the share of borrowers using a mortgage broker climbs to a record high. For anyone buying a home or refinancing right now, that shift is worth understanding, because it changes where people go for help and what that help looks like once they get there.

The branches are going

APRA's latest Points of Presence data, covering the year to 30 June 2026, counts 3,108 bank branches left nationally, a fall of 97 over the year and roughly 1,215 fewer than five years earlier, a decline of about 28 per cent. Among the big four, Westpac closed the most branches, down 17 to 475, followed by Commonwealth Bank, down 14. NAB lost four branches and ANZ held its network steady at 284. Bank ATMs are disappearing even faster. There are now 4,959 left nationally, over a third fewer than five years ago.

Regional areas are being spared, for now

The one bright spot in the data is regional and remote Australia, where branch numbers fell by only 1.7 per cent this year, the smallest decline since APRA started tracking it. That slowdown follows an agreement between the major banks and the federal government to make no further regional branch closures before 31 July 2027. It is a welcome pause, but it comes after a long run of losses. Regional and remote branch numbers have dropped from 2,335 in 2017 to 1,434 today, a fall of close to 39 per cent, so the agreement protects what is left rather than restoring what has already gone.

Brokers are filling the gap

While branches thin out, brokers are handling more of the country's home lending than ever. Cotality data commissioned by the Mortgage and Finance Association of Australia shows brokers arranged a record 81.6 per cent of new home loans in the June 2026 quarter, up from 53.9 per cent in June 2018, settling 139.08 billion dollars in new lending over those three months alone. Jaime Savory, a Gippsland based broker, put it simply when asked about it: even where the major banks are still open, they are not staffed the way they used to be. MFAA chief executive Anja Pannek has pointed to the record broker share as a sign of the trust borrowers are placing in that channel over the branch counter.

What this actually means if you are buying or refinancing

A branch used to be a reasonable place to ask about a home loan because there was usually someone behind the counter who could talk you through it, even if they also handled everyday banking, cards and term deposits. That is increasingly not the case. Fewer branches mean fewer chances to walk in and find a specialist on hand, and when a branch is still open, it is often leaner than it once was. A broker's whole job, by contrast, is home loans. We compare options across our panel of lenders so the loan fits your goals rather than whichever product happens to be on the counter that week, and we can meet you at a time and place that suits your life rather than bank opening hours. None of this means branches are a bad option if one works for you. It simply means borrowers now have a well established alternative that did not carry the same weight even a decade ago, and the data shows more Australians are choosing it.

The takeaway

Branch numbers will likely keep falling even as the regional pause holds the line for now, and that is reshaping how Australians get home loan advice. Whether you are a first home buyer unsure where to start, or refinancing an existing loan, you do not need a branch nearby to get proper guidance. You need someone who knows the lending options available to you and is working for you rather than one bank's counter.

Figures note: branch and ATM numbers are from APRA's 2026 Points of Presence statistics for authorised deposit taking institutions, released 14 October 2026, as reported by Canstar via Broker News on 15 October 2026. Broker market share and lending figures are Cotality data commissioned by the Mortgage and Finance Association of Australia, as reported by MPA Magazine on 15 October 2026.

This article is general information only and does not take into account your personal objectives, financial situation or needs. Please speak with a Claremont Financial broker before making any borrowing decision.