RBNZ new lending fully secured by residential mortgages data show September’s total share of lending on fixed interest rates is at 82.8%, up from 81.9% in August. This is the highest share on record.

Total monthly new residential lending reached $5.8 billion last month, up 1.9% from $5.7 billion in August and compared to a year ago, up 4.5% from $5.6 billion. It is the second month in a row this year there has been an annual increase.

This recently introduced RBNZ series is interesting because the data covers new mortgages in the reporting month and not when they have been committed to.

It shows new mortgage lending to owner-occupiers rose to $4.4 billion in September, up 2.1% in August. One-year fixed terms continue to be the most popular, accounting for 27.1% of all new lending. This was down slightly from 27.8% in August. Owner-occupiers took out $1,203 billion on one-year fixed rates.

However, there was an increase in the share of owner-occupier lending on six-month, 18-month and two-year fixed terms, compared to August. Most notably, September’s share of lending on 18-month terms rose to 16.4% from 15.2% the previous month and the share of lending on two-year terms rose to 23.5% from 21.8% in August.

Investor mortgage lending was flat at $1.3 billion last month. One-year fixed terms were the most popular, making up 31.6% of new lending, up slightly from 31.5% in August.

Unlike for owner occupiers, the share of new residential investor lending on 18-month and two-year fixed terms fell slightly to 13.9% from 14.8% the previous month and to 20.2% from 20.5% in August, respectively. Instead, shares for six-month and three-year fixed terms rose slightly.

Other lending

New consumer lending fell to $219 million in September, a fall of 10.6% from $245 million in August and compared to the same month last there was an increase of 8.4% from $202 million.

Total new business lending (excluding agriculture) was at $3 billion in September, up 16.6% from $2.6 billion in August. Compared to September last year, this is a fall of 16.8% from $3.6 billion.

Of business lending subcategories, only investment property fell, dropping 49.3% or by $296 million.

Agriculture lending rose to $755m last month, up 14.6% from $659m in August. Dairy farming and sheep, beef cattle and grain farming were the biggest risers, increasing by 20.5% and 11.7% from August respectively.