A mortgage pre-approval lead costs whatever you pay for the click, the call, or the referral — but that number is almost meaningless on its own. The figure that decides whether your marketing works is the cost per funded deal, and the distance between the two is where most mortgage broker ad budgets quietly die. Here's how to actually price a pre-approval lead, channel by channel, and how to know what you can afford to pay.
Why cost per lead is the wrong scoreboard
One funded mortgage pays a broker a commission measured in basis points on the loan amount — on a typical file, a four-figure sum. That single economic fact changes the math: a "cheap" lead source that never funds is infinitely expensive, and an "expensive" one that funds reliably can be the bargain of your year. The pre-approval funnel is long and leaky: inquiry, conversation, pre-approval, months of shopping, live deal, funding. Every stage loses people, so the real equation is:
- Cost per funded deal = cost per lead ÷ (lead-to-preapproval rate × preapproval-to-funded rate)
- If leads cost $40 and 1 in 4 becomes a pre-approval conversation, a pre-approval costs $160.
- If 1 in 5 pre-approvals eventually funds, the funded deal cost $800 — against a four-figure commission, that math works.
- Run the same arithmetic on your own close rates before judging any channel's price tag.
What pre-approval leads cost by channel
Exact prices move with your market and the rate cycle, so treat these as relationships rather than quotes — the ordering is remarkably stable even when the absolute numbers move.
Search ads (highest intent, highest price)
Someone typing "mortgage pre-approval" or "mortgage broker near me" is days from acting, and every lender in the country knows it — mortgage keywords sit among the most expensive clicks in local advertising. Expect the highest cost per lead of any channel, and the best lead-to-conversation rate. Search is where you pay a premium for timing.
Social ads (cheaper leads, longer nurture)
Facebook and Instagram interrupt people who weren't searching, so leads cost a fraction of search — and convert a fraction as often, months later. Social leads are inventory for your nurture system, not this month's fundings. Priced per funded deal, social only wins if your follow-up is genuinely good.
Lead aggregators (bought volume, shared attention)
Purchased leads are often resold to multiple brokers, which means you're paying for a footrace. The sticker price per lead can look reasonable; the speed-to-lead requirement is brutal — pre-approval shoppers talk to two or three lenders, and the first substantive callback usually wins the file.
Realtor referrals and past clients (the "free" leads that aren't)
Referred borrowers close at rates paid channels can't touch, but the acquisition cost didn't disappear — it moved into the coffee meetings, co-marketing, and years of reliability that earned the referral. In Canada, renewal-date capture from your own book is the single cheapest source of future deals a broker owns.
How to lower the real cost (without lowering spend)
- Fix speed to lead first. Cutting response time from hours to minutes does more for cost per funded deal than any bidding tweak.
- Build a nurture machine. Most leads transact on their timeline, not your campaign's. Rate-alert lists, renewal reminders, and a monthly market email turn "dead" leads into next spring's fundings.
- Publish calculators and answer content. Payment and affordability calculators are the best lead magnets in the category, and they pre-qualify intent before you ever pay for a click.
- Track to funding, not to form-fill. Tag every lead's source in your CRM and reconcile against funded files quarterly — the channel rankings will surprise you.
- Stay compliant. Ads need your brokerage name and licence (NMLS ID in the US; provincial licence details in Canada), no guaranteed-approval language, and consent-based follow-up under CASL for Canadian email and SMS.
The budget question, answered backwards
Start from a funded deal's value, decide what share you'll spend to acquire one — many growing brokers land between 10% and 25% — and work backwards through your real conversion rates to the maximum you can pay per lead. Now channel prices stop being scary or seductive; they're just inputs. A pre-approval lead is never cheap or expensive in isolation. It's cheap or expensive relative to what your follow-up turns it into — and that part, unlike click prices, is fully in your control.