iscover 
After years of disruption, stimulus, and structural uncertainty, the mortgage and banking sector is entering a new phase. Loan growth itself is no longer the challenge – execution is.
Credit continues to flow, property prices continue to rise, and digital decision making is accelerating.
Yet the margin for error across lending, documentation, and property settlement has narrowed to its tightest point in more than a decade.
The mortgage lending industry enters 2026 in a fundamentally different position to where it stood just two years ago. From our deep experience at Green Mortgage Lawyers, we can see the market has clearly shifted. It is no longer shaped by emergency settings, cheap money, or blunt stimulus, and it is certainly not driven by interest rates alone.
What is emerging instead is a far more demanding phase: one defined by tighter regulation, rising complexity, and accelerating technology adoption, all playing out against a housing market that continues to defy simple economic logic.
Risk has not disappeared – it has become more concentrated.
For lenders and brokers alike, this shifts the focus away from headline rates and towards execution risk: how loan deals are structured, how accurately they are legally documented, and how cleanly they settle.
As lending frameworks become more complex, brokers become more central. Product choice, policy interpretation, and documentation requirements are no longer simple. Brokers play an increasingly critical role in helping borrowers navigate these layers with confidence, and that role is accelerating.
The defining feature of 2026 in lending will not be interest rates, AI, or regulation in isolation.
It will be execution and how cleanly loans are structured, documented, and settled.
7 practical steps brokers and lenders should focus on
We’ve put together this practical, at-a-glance checklist to help brokers and lenders navigate lending in 2026, turning our key insights into clear, actionable steps across credit, documentation, and settlement, when accuracy and execution matter most.
1. Settlement has overtaken approval as the primary risk point
2026 insight
In 2026, loan approval is no longer the primary risk point – settlement is.
Impact
Larger loan sizes, thinner buffers, and tighter regulatory tolerance mean issues that surface late in the process are harder to resolve and more likely to derail settlement.
Action
Brokers and lenders should ensure loans are structurally sound, fully documented, and settlement-ready from the outset. Validate documentation accuracy, condition sequencing, valuation alignment, and legal readiness early to avoid settlement delays or failed completions.
2. Serviceability risk now emerges before submission
2026 insight
With larger loan sizes and thinner buffers, serviceability risk now surfaces before submission, not at credit approval.
Impact
Small assumption errors can quickly trigger credit delays, rework, and borrower disappointment later in the process.
Action
Brokers and lenders should pressure-test income types, living expense assumptions, and buffer sensitivity upfront, particularly for high debt-to-income loans.
3. Compliance has shifted from protection to performance
2026 insight
In 2026, compliance discipline directly influences settlement outcomes and customer experience.
Impact
Weak compliance processes increase rework, credit rejections, and last-minute conditions, placing pressure on settlement time frames.
Action
Brokers and lenders should review pre-instruction checklists, verification steps, and document accuracy to reduce rework, credit rejections, and last-minute conditions and improve settlement certainty.
4. Broker-lender workflow alignment is now structural
2026 insight
With brokers originating nearly 78 per cent of new residential mortgages, broker-led lending is structurally embedded in the market.
Impact
Inconsistent workflows, unclear escalation paths, and misaligned expectations increase execution risk at scale.
Action
Lenders should treat broker workflows as an extension of lender credit and documentation processes, with clear escalation pathways and consistent standards across teams.
5. Manual loan instruction entry has become an execution risk
2026 insight
In 2026, rekeying loan instructions by hand introduces risk at a time when accuracy and speed matter most.
Impact
Small data errors now compound quickly, driving rework, added cost, and avoidable settlement delays, precisely when tolerance for correction is lowest.
Action
Lenders and brokers should prioritise API-enabled data transfer, including industry standards such as LIXI2, to move loan instruction data directly into legal and settlement workflows. Using APIs reduces manual rekeying, flags errors earlier, streamlines delivery to GML, and supports cleaner files, faster turnaround, and more reliable settlement outcomes for borrowers.
6. Data security now underpins execution certainty
2026 insight
Cyber security, fraud prevention, and data governance are now core lending risks, not IT issues.
Impact
Cyber incidents don’t just compromise data – they delay settlements, disrupt workflows, and erode trust across the lending chain.
Action
Brokers and lenders should review how borrower data is handled, stored, and shared, particularly where third-party technology providers are involved.
7. Complexity must be escalated earlier than ever
2026 insight
As lending complexity increases, execution risk concentrates around non-standard structures and policy edge cases.
Impact
Late escalation significantly increases the likelihood of settlement disruption and regulatory exposure.
Action
Lenders should flag complex structures, policy anomalies, and documentation issues upfront with their legal team to avoid downstream disruption.
Craig Green is the founder and managing partner of Green Mortgage Lawyers. With over 40 years of leadership in the legal and banking sectors, Green has long focused on banking and finance law, including during his time as an equity partner at Gadens Brisbane.
Lindsay Johnson (LG) is the general manager of Green Mortgage Lawyers and has extensive experience across retail and commercial banking, with a strong focus on credit risk, property finance, and risk assessment. Before joining GML, he was chief operating officer of Southern Cross Credit Union and worked for 15 years at BOQ, including as its general manager of property finance and management.