Despite the growth in median house prices, a new report shows that Australians are still keen on home ownership. KPMG’s Australian Home Loan Market survey found that 63% of respondents plan to apply for a mortgage in the next two years.

Over 600 KPMG professionals aged 21-65 years with annual incomes of between $70,000 and $250,000 took part in the survey. From the respondents without a home loan, the 30-49-year age group was the most likely to plan for a home loan application in the next two years, at 73%.

Respondents made it clear that ‘integrity’ and ‘simplicity’ are important factors when it comes to deciding which financial institution they want to do business with. In the survey, integrity was defined as ‘being trustworthy and engendering trust’ and simplicity was defined as ‘minimising customer effort and creating frictionless processes’.

Considering this preference for straightforward trustworthy advice, it is hardly surprising that many respondents value the advice of mortgage brokers. Asked who they prefer to apply for a home loan with, most respondents chose a mortgage broker over a financial institution. Top reasons given were ‘to find the best deal’, ‘they made it easy’ and ‘reputation’.

To explain the continued interest that Australians have in the residential property market, the report concludes: “we believe this reflects a generally held belief that residential asset prices will continue to rise in the long run despite current high prices and issues around affordability”.