March a bumper quarter for mortgage lending; quake hits SBS's book

That's slightly higher than the $1.28 billion banking system growth shown in the Reserve Bank's figures for the March quarter.

With all the banks' disclosure statements now in, the clear winners in the quarter were the government's Kiwibank, which lifted its share of the mortgage market to 6.73% at March 31 from 6.65% three months earlier and 6.35% at June 30 last year, and Westpac, which lifted its share to 20.89% at March 31 from 20.78% three months earlier

ANZ Bank also lifted its market share for the first in many quarters, to 30.3% from 30.29% at December 31 but that was still well down from 30.68% at June 30 last year. (Comparable earlier figures aren't available since all banks only started reporting their data in its current form from the June quarter last year.)

While ASB Bank grew its mortgage book for the first in eight quarters, its market share still eased again to 22.04% at March 31 from 22.18% three months earlier and 22.36% at June 30 last year.