A quarter of new home loans went to first home buyers in the first half of the year, according to retail banking insights released by the New Zealand Banking Association.
The NZBA said the figures reflect a steady lending environment between January and June, with 60,249 new loans opened over the period.
At the end of June there were 1.4 million home loans across 1.2 million customers, and the average loan value rose 2% to $329,656 compared with the previous six months.
First home buyers accounted for 25% of new lending, consistent with the prior period, and their average loan size increased 3% to $507,690.
NZBA chief executive Roger Beaumont said the numbers highlight continued demand from new entrants to the property market.
“It’s great to see first home buyers taking advantage of the current property market and getting into their first home. A quarter of new home loans were for first home buyers, and that was similar for the previous six months,” he said.
The data shows 40% of home loan customers were paying more than their minimum repayments, while 1.5% were behind on repayments.
During the six-month period, 12,555 loans switched from principal-and-interest to interest-only, a decrease of 28% from the previous period.
The NZBA said this points to stable mortgage performance despite ongoing economic pressures.
Across the wider banking sector, there were 2 billionn transactions made by 10.1 million unique customers, while in-branch cash transactions fell 12.2% to 1.9 million.
Digital engagement continued to rise, with 5.9m customers actively using internet banking or mobile apps, up 3.7%.
Just over two-thirds of credit cards were paid off in full without interest, and hardship assistance was granted to 6,717 customers, down 9.1%. Banks received 6.3% fewer complaints and handled around 884,000 customer calls each month.
Beaumont said the data shows customers are largely managing their finances well despite challenging conditions. “Despite the challenging economic conditions, we’re seeing most customers continuing to manage their money well,” he said.