Non-majors outpaced big four growth in 2014

APRA's quarterly ADI property exposure figures released yesterday show that major banks held $1,037 billion of home loans at 31 December 2014 – an increase of 2.3 per cent on 30 September 2014 and of 8.8 per cent on 31 December 2013.

However, other domestic banks held $142.6 billion – an increase of 5.3 per cent on 30 September 2014 and 16.8 per cent on 31 December 2013.

The APRA figures – which take into account all Australian ADIs – come after one of Australia’s newest banks recorded approximately 12 per cent growth in home loans in annualised terms over the six months to 31 December.

In a trading update last week, MyState announced that it had experienced significant growth in broker settlements over the period.

Mystate CEO Melos Sulicich said the result reflected strong improvement in the group’s broker lending operations.

Mr Sulicich described the result as a “substantial achievement which exceeded the loan growth of regional and major banks”, adding that this momentum is expected to continue in the second half.

“In December 2014, our home loan settlements through the broker channel exceeded retail settlements for the first time, and our broker portfolio is growing currently at more than 20 per cent annually,” he said.

While the APRA figures reflect the volume growth of the non-majors, particularly over the later quarters of 2014, they also highlight a significant rise in investor lending across the banking sector.

Investment loans accounted for 34.3 per cent of residential term loans as at 31 December 2014.

Investment loans were $438.9 billion, an increase of $13.6 billion (3.2 per cent) on 30 September 2014 and of $47.8 billion (12.2 per cent) on 31 December 2013.