ANZ and NAB steamrolling over CommBank and Westpac in owner-occupier mortgage lending

The Commonwealth Bank is telling everyone it “CAN”, but it is ANZ and NAB that are steaming ahead this year when it comes to lending to owner-occupiers.

Analysis of APRA banking figures for the first four month of 2012 show that ANZ has written nearly $3.8 billion in owner-occupier mortgages and NAB more than $3.3 billion, growth of 3.2% and 2.6% respectively.

In comparison the Commonwealth Bank has written just $1.29 billion in new loans between January and the end of April (growth of 0.7%) while Westpac (including all its subsidiary brands) ranks outside the top four, managing $1.05 billion in new mortgages (growth of 0.6%).

Bankwest, owned by the Commonwealth Bank, wrote $1.46 billion (up 4%) in new loans ranking as the third biggest lender of 2012 with Suncorp also prominent with new lending totalling $1.14 billion – an increase of 5% over the first four months of the year.

Source: APRA Figures are in millions

Suncorp Bank head of personal lending Tony Meredith attributes the growth in its mortgage lending pipeline in recent months to “an attractive product and service proposition in target markets and a renewed focus on the broker channel”.

Growth has come from the bank’s key target markets in the mortgage space – refinancers and first-home owners.

“We’ve been growing strongly in the broker space, having reaffirmed our commitment to, and investment in, this important channel through a range of technology, commission and servicing improvements,” Meredith tells Property Observer.

“Suncorp Bank consistently has greater customer satisfaction scores than the major banks for both personal and business lending. We continue to see disenfranchised customers of the major banks make the switch to Suncorp Bank, testament to our strong customer proposition in making it easier to get a good value home loan, suited to the individual’s needs.”

Smaller banks feature prominently on the list, with Bendigo & Adelaide Bank managing mortgage lending growth of 5.8% and Members Equity bank 6.3%.

ING, which has the sixth biggest mortgage book (or fifth if you put Commonwealth Bank and Bankest together) has written just $166 million in new owner-occupier mortgages over the first four months of the year and ranks 13^th, behind a swathe of smaller lenders.

Lisa Claes, executive director of direct business at ING Direct, says the bank is satisfied with its current rate of mortgage growth, which she says is “on a par of where it has been since the GFC”.

“We are not driven by market share targets, but by a sustainable growth proposition.

“We want to grow our mortgage book responsibly – we are happy with where we are, but we are not complacent,” she says.

Macquarie Bank, which grew its investment housing lending book by 33% over the same four-month period, was also the top owner-occupier lender in percentage terms, growing its book by 17% and benefiting from its closer ties to the mortgage broker market.