Kiwibank, ASB lift mortgage market share, ANZ, Westpac lag

The Reserve Bank data has confirmed that Kiwibank is lending at more than twice the rate of its share of the mortgage market while ASB continues to make up for share lost in 2023.

Meanwhile both ANZ Bank NZ, the country’s largest bank, and Westpac continue to see their market share eroded.

The Reserve Bank’s latest bank financial strength dashboard data shows the government-owned Kiwibank accounted for 14.2% of all new bank mortgage lending in the December quarter with net new lending of $729.7 million and that it accounted for 16.9% of new lending for calendar 2024.

That took Kiwibank’s mortgage book to $28.29 billion, up $2.44 billion from a year earlier and took its share of the market to 7.8% from 7.4%.

Kiwibank has put on a growth spurt since getting the July 2023 infusion of $225 million (from the proceeds of selling Kiwi Wealth) in additional capital and it also accessed third-party capital in October last year when it sold $275 million pf perpetual preference shares.

The government has greenlit Kiwibank to have discussions with other third-party investors about contributing more capital.

One percentage point of the mortgage market is now worth $3.64 billion.

Commonwealth Bank of Australia-owned ASB’s market share lifted to 21.1% at Dec 31, up from 21% a year earlier, with it lending a net $1.21 billion in the latest quarter and $3.24 billion in the calendar year, taking its book to $76.68 billion, holding its place as the country’s second-largest mortgage lender.

As previously reported, ASB’s market share went backwards in 2023 when it attempted to protect its profit margins and failed to offer competitive mortgage interest rates.

National Australia Bank-owned Bank of New Zealand has been slowly increasing its market share to 16.8% at the end of 2024 with a book of $61.18 billion, though its still the smallest mortgage lender of the big four banks.

BNZ accounted for 20.9% of net new bank lending on mortgages in the December with lending of $1.07 billion and for 19.2% of new lending in calendar 2024 with lending of $2.78 billion.

Westpac’s market share slipped to 18.8% at the end of 2024 with a book of $68.27 billion, having accounted for only 12.9% of new lending in the year.

ANZ’s share of the market eased to 30.2% from 30.5% a year earlier with a book of $109.87 billion, so clearly in no imminent danger of being overtaken as the largest mortgage lender.

But it accounted for only 22.4% of net new lending in the December quarter, accounting for $1.15 billion or 22.4% of new bank lending and $3.46 billion in the calendar year, or 23.9% of new lending.