Westpac's mortgage book resumed aggressive growth in March Qtr

The loan-to-valuation ratio (LVR) table in the bank's March quarter disclosure statement shows its mortgage book grew by $489 million to $35.48 billion in the three months. That follows the $29 million growth shown in the December quarter and easily beats the $309 million and $347 million growth the bank showed in the September and June quarters of last year.

Although Westpac has been reporting these figures in their current form since the March quarter last year, its earlier figures suggest its share of the mortgage book has been growing since the September quarter of 2009.

Assuming Reserve Bank data will prove a reasonable proxy for the LVR figures in all the banks' disclosure statement, the latest quarter's growth takes Wespac's share of mortgages written by registered banks to 20.7% at March 31, up from 20.55% at December 31.

Despite a lot of annecdotal and some actual evidence that banks have been relaxing their credit criteria in recent months, Westpac's figures show the bulk of its March quarter growth came from relative conservative lending.