ANZ home loan book continues to slide

APRA has released its authorised deposit-taking institutions (ADIs) statistics for March, revealing total residents loans and finance leases grew by $24.8 billion (or 0.8 per cent) to a total of $3.1 trillion during the month.

Home lending had driven the growth, with a $7.7 billion (or 0.6 per cent) increase in owner-occupied housing lending to $1.3 trillion worth and a $3.6 billion (or 0.5 per cent) rise in investor loans, to $653.6 billion.

Looking at the big four, ANZ experienced a 1 per cent or $82 million dip over March across both its owner-occupied and investor housing loans, down to $260.5 billion.

The owner-occupied book was down by 1 per cent, or $224 million, to $172.8 billion, continuing on from a 1 per cent drop in February and earlier falls of $200 million over both January and December.

Meanwhile the bank’s investor loans came to $87.6 billion, somewhat flat on the month before, up by 0.1 per cent, or $142 million. ANZ’s investor lending had also seen upticks over February, January and December.

ANZ has previously acknowledged falls in its home loans book, which it attributed to stretched turnaround times for approvals, during a flurry of activity it was unprepared for.

The group has been working to reverse the decline, under the eye of its group executive for Australian retail, Maile Carnegie.

Last week however, a UBS survey of customers who had recently secured mortgages reported 81 per cent of respondents who had used ANZ made misstatements on their home loan application – a larger proportion than other banks.

Westpac had also copped a hit to its investor book over March, but it was offset by slight growth in its owner-occupier lending, keeping the overall $427.8 billion book somewhat consistent with the month before, with a slight lift of 0.1 per cent, or $475 million.

Westpac’s investor book was down by 1 per cent (-$106 million), to $153.37 billion.

Owner-occupied loans on the other hand remained at around the same level, at $274.4 billion.

The two other major banks recorded slight growth.

CBA’s mortgage total was $512.7 billion, up by around 0.3 per cent, or $2 billion.

Its owner-occupied book had grown by 0.4 per cent, or $1.3 billion, to a total of $340.6 billion, while investor loans had inched upwards by 0.3 per cent ($638 million), to $172 billion.

NAB on the other hand was up by 0.6 per cent ($1.7 billion) across its overall mortgages.

Its owner-occupier book had increased by $1.2 billion, to $182.2 billion. The bank’s investor loans had also inched upwards by 0.5 per cent, or $534 million, to $103.7 billion.

Meanwhile, overall credit card lending across the banks slipped by 0.3 per cent (down $100 million), to $28 billion.

Other household lending remained somewhat stable, dipping by 0.1 per cent, or $100 million, to $76.2 billion.

Lending to non-financial businesses experienced a 1.3 per cent or $10.9 billion climb, to a total of $879.4 billion.

[Related: ANZ approving more false mortgage applications than rivals: UBS]