Mortgage lending recovers but banks remain ultra-cautious

Fri, 26 Jun 2020

Mortgage lending recovered in May after shrinking in April for the first time on record, but mortgage brokers say the banks are still taking an ultra-conservative stance on lending criteria. Reserve Bank data released late yesterday showed mortgage lending in May totalled $4.32 billion, up from $2.75 billion in April but still down from $6.18 billion in March. The May total is still the lowest level of lending, apart from April, since January 2019 when mortgage lending was $4.05 billion, and was well down on the $6.47 billion lent in May...

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