According to the Reserve Bank’s latest data, new mortgage lending in January came to a total of $3.696 billion.

That leaves the total at its lowest level since January 2017 when it fell to $3.533 billion, which was the smallest total since the Reserve Bank started releasing the data in August 2014.

January’s fall in total new mortgage lending came off the back of a decrease in December and serves to highlight the much cooler nature of the market.

Investors’ accounted for $783 million of January’s new mortgage lending, which was down on the $1.066 billion they borrowed in December.

It was also the lowest amount that investors have borrowed since the Reserve Bank’s data series began – and that includes the previous low of $844 million set last January.

On top of this, investors’ share of the total lending remains low at around 21%.

This is significantly down on the 35% share they had back in June 2016, prior to the introduction of the Reserve Bank’s investor-focused LVRs.

Additionally, higher than 80% LVR lending to investors came in at just $3 million in January.

In contrast, investors were responsible for $23 million of higher than 80% LVR lending back in January 2016.

Of late, there has been some speculation that investor confidence might be on the rise.

CoreLogic’s Nick Goodall says their data shows multiple property owners needing a mortgage to purchase had a stronger month in January.

“They accounted for almost two-thirds (66%) of multiple property owners purchases (up from 62%).” 

Further, the latest instalment of Crockers’ Auckland Rental Property Investment Index suggests there has been a rise in the proportion of investors planning to add to their portfolio.

But the Reserve Bank’s data indicates that the slight easing of the LVRs from the start of January has not yet prompted hordes of investors to rush back into the market.

Meanwhile, the amount of new mortgage lending to first home buyers also took a bit of a tumble in January: it was down to $564 million from $767 million in December.

New mortgage lending to owner-occupiers dropped to $2.317 billion in January, as compared to $3.199 billion in December.

Each group’s share of lending remained steady at just over 15% for first home buyers and around 62.5% for owner occupiers.