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New residential mortgage lending by borrower type (C31)

This data tracks new mortgages granted to different borrower types, such as first home buyers or investors, each month.

Previous years: Monthly:
Feb 2023 Feb 2024 Oct 2024 Nov 2024 Dec 2024 Jan 2025 Feb 2025
Total lending ($million)
All borrower types 3,836 4,915 7,534 7,412 8,113 5,131 5,847
First home buyers 815 1,109 1,563 1,499 1,611 1,036 1,113
Other owner-occupiers 2,329 2,880 4,256 4,215 4,731 2,891 3,426
Investors 626 851 1,606 1,600 1,690 1,153 1,207
Business purposes 65 75 110 97 80 50 101
Higher than 80% LVR lending ($million)
All borrower types 363 491 853 809 867 608 618
First home buyers 266 371 654 623 654 469 479
Other owner-occupiers 88 115 188 167 198 132 133
Investors 8 5 10 18 14 6 6
Business purposes 0 0 1 1 1 0 1
Less than or equal to 80% LVR lending ($million)
All borrower types 3,473 4,424 6,681 6,603 7,245 4,523 5,229
First home buyers 549 738 909 876 958 567 634
Other owner-occupiers 2,241 2,765 4,067 4,049 4,532 2,760 3,293
Investors 618 845 1,595 1,582 1,676 1,146 1,201
Business purposes 65 75 109 97 79 50 100

Additional loan-to-valuation series published

26 July 2022

From today we will publish additional loan-to-valuation ratio (LVR) series in the C31 New residential mortgage lending by borrower type table.

These series will show the monthly value of residential mortgage lending to investors where the LVR is above 60%, and lending where the LVR is 60% or below. The Excel data file will also show the monthly number of loans where the LVR is above 60%, and where the LVR is 60% or below. Please note that some time series within the Excel data file have shifted columns as a result of the additions.

Please note that the C31 table borrower type data forms part of statistical reporting to the Reserve Bank and does not relate to LVR compliance, which uses a different, collateral-based definition of investment property (see BS19 and BPR131).

The data: coverage, periodicity, and timeliness

Coverage characteristics

Registered banks provide data on new residential mortgage lending commitments during a reference month with a breakdown by loan-to-valuation ratio (LVR) and borrower type. Borrowers are classified as first home buyers, other owner-occupiers, investors or those borrowing for business purposes.

View the Register of registered banks in New Zealand

Periodicity

Monthly.

Timeliness

We publish data 18 working days after the end of the reference month.

Access by the public

Statistics release calendar

The statistics release calendar provides a long-term plan of scheduled releases. We update and release it on the first working day of the month.

View the statistics release calendar

Integrity

Dissemination of terms and conditions under which official statistics are produced, including confidentiality of individual responses

We collect data under Section 36 of the Reserve Bank of New Zealand Act 1989 (the Act).

Read the Reserve Bank of New Zealand Act 1989

We only publish aggregated data. Individual institutional data is confidential.

Provision of information about revisions and advance notice of major changes in methodology

Provisional data are italicised. Data are deemed provisional when a series is under review. New data, or revised data, are in bold font. This applies to the summary table only and not Excel files. We generally publish revisions when we update and release the next table. Should we need to make revisions more promptly, we will post a special note on the website. We also post any major changes in methodology as a special note.

Quality

Dissemination of statistics that support statistical cross-check and provide assurance of reasonableness

Data on new residential mortgage lending commitments by loan-to-valuation ratio (LVR) is published in C30.

View Table C30

Lending ($ millions)

Total lending

Total value of monthly committed residential mortgage loans, which are finalised offers to customers to provide mortgage loans or to increase the loan value of an existing mortgage loan, as evidenced by the loan documents provided to the borrower.

Higher than 80% LVR lending

Monthly value of committed residential mortgage lending, where the loan-to-valuation ratio (LVR) is above 80%.

Less than or equal to 80% LVR lending

Monthly value of committed residential mortgage lending, where the loan-to-valuation ratio (LVR) is 80% or below.

Higher than 70% LVR lending

Monthly value of committed residential mortgage lending, where the loan-to-valuation ratio (LVR) is above 70%. This data is published for investors only.

Less than or equal to 70% LVR lending

Monthly value of committed residential mortgage lending, where the loan-to-valuation ratio (LVR) is 70% or below. This data is published for investors only.

Higher than 60% LVR lending

Monthly value of committed residential mortgage lending, where the loan-to-valuation ratio (LVR) is above 60%. This data is published for investors only.

Less than or equal to 60% LVR lending

Monthly value of committed residential mortgage lending, where the loan-to-valuation ratio (LVR) is 60% or below. This data is published for investors only.

Borrowers (number)

Total borrowers

Total number of monthly committed residential mortgage loans, which are finalised offers to customers to provide mortgage loans or to increase the loan value of an existing mortgage loan, as evidenced by the loan documents provided to the borrower.

Higher than 80% LVR borrowers

Monthly number of committed residential mortgage loans, where the loan-to-valuation ratio (LVR) is above 80%.

Less than or equal to 80% LVR borrowers

Monthly number of committed residential mortgage loans, where the loan-to-valuation ratio (LVR) is 80% or below.

Higher than 70% LVR borrowers

Monthly number of committed residential mortgage loans, where the loan-to-valuation ratio (LVR) is above 70%. This data is published for investors only.

Less than or equal to 70% LVR borrowers

Monthly number of committed residential mortgage loans, where the loan-to-valuation ratio (LVR) is 70% or below. This data is published for investors only.

Higher than 60% LVR borrowers

Monthly number of committed residential mortgage loans, where the loan-to-valuation ratio (LVR) is above 60%. This data is published for investors only.

Less than or equal to 60% LVR borrowers

Monthly number of committed residential mortgage loans, where the loan-to-valuation ratio (LVR) is 60% or below. This data is published for investors only.

Borrower type

First home buyer

A first home buyer is a borrower entering the home ownership market in New Zealand for the first time. In the case of there being more than one borrowing party to a loan, borrowers are classified as first home buyers only if none of the borrowing parties have previously drawn down on housing finance for owner occupation. If the borrower, or at least one borrowing party, has previously drawn down on housing finance for owner occupation, they are classified as ‘other owner-occupier’.

Other owner-occupier

Other owner-occupiers are borrowers (other than first home buyers) who own or are in the process of buying or building the house or flat they will live in. An owner can occupy more than one property, for example, a family home and a holiday home.

Investor

Investors are entities or persons borrowing for the purpose of building or purchasing residential property to rent. The borrower is securing the loan on a non-owner occupied property; that is, the borrower does not intend to live in the property for which they are seeking finance.

Business purposes

These commitments are made to borrowers in the form of a residential mortgage loan but are intended for business purposes.

Symbols and conventions for summary table

Symbol or convention Definition
0 Zero or value rounded to zero
- Not applicable
.. Not available
bold Revised/new
italics Provisional
Light grey background Historical

General notes

  • Individual figures may not sum to the totals due to rounding
  • Percentage changes are calculated on unrounded numbers
  • You are free to copy, distribute and adapt these statistics subject to the conditions listed on our copyright page.