Newbies and old-timers take out Fidelity Life adviser awards.

As mortgage stress becomes more prevalent borrowers are turning to mortgage advisers to help manage their finance applications, a new FAMNZ report shows.

While unemployment is rising and is a major concern for mortgage holders and potential home buyers, it is not forcing first home buyers out of the market.

ASB has closed pre-approvals to new customers until November 22.

Fidelity Life has laid out bold new growth plans, a year after admitting it had dropped the ball with advisers.

As the country’s stock of mortgages continues to grow, Christchurch-based NZ Mortgages, now majority owned by Squirrel, is planning to be writing $1 billion of the $364.5 billion New Zealand total every year.

Kiwibank has lifted its home loans business to now have an 8% market share, with about 64% of its mortgage business originated by advisers.

The Reserve Bank has had 13 banks design “severe but plausible” stress tests that would cause their capital to drop below regulatory minimums and the results show that it would take a set of more severe stresses than RBNZ's own stress scenarios.

Mortgage advisers accounted for 63% of Westpac's new mortgage lending in the year ended September, the bank's chief executive Catherine McGrath told TMMO.

Mortgage advisers now account for 53.8% of Westpac New Zealand's mortgage book, up from 53% in March and from 51.9% in September last year.

Loan Market Capital & Coast and Insurance Market have been merged into LifeDirect to offer a nationwide mortgage service.

Existing properties are on the radar of property investors as the pace of decline in property values finds a floor and first home buyer numbers dip.