A choice for the average Kiwi battler

Another small fish is about to move into the ocean of residential mortgage lending dominated by the main banks.
Niche fund manager Equitable is on the verge of launching what is expected to be a very competitive range of mortgage products.
Details of the mortgage business will be announced next week, however group general manager Philip Markwick describes the new business as exciting.
"It will provide an option or choice for the average Kiwi battler."
Also it will provide advisers and brokers with another product to offer their clients.
The Equitable Residential Mortgages Ltd business won't be using funds raised from Equitable's other business, rather it will be funded through an offshore bank.
Markwick says there will be a range of variable and fixed mortgage products called "A Home Loan without Walls".
Reserve bank figures show that there has been strong growth in residential lending since 1992.
As a proportion of total bank lending, residential mortgages have increased 43 per cent in 1992 to 51 per cent in 1997. At the end of 1997 banks had $50.6 billion tied up in residential mortgages.
More details of Equitable's mortgages are expected to be available later this week.