Mortgage brokers are being pounded by slower lending, regulatory headaches, management changes, humiliating royal commission disclosures and some very public spats with their major paymasters, the big four banks.

The share price of listed brokerages are also being battered as investors grow increasingly nervous about whether it's a cyclical downturn or the beginning of systemic change imposed by new technology, a repositioning by major banks and over-zealous regulators.