Investors again making their mark in the mortgage market

First-home buyers who piled into the housing market at the end of last year and bought so they didn’t have to compete with the coming surge of investors were on the right track.

The latest Reserve Bank mortgage data shows in January investors took out their biggest share of new mortgages in nearly four years. The RBNZ had temporarily removed LVR restrictions for investors at that time.

Of the $5.1 billion taken out in new mortgages, 22.5% went to investors in January. A year ago, their share stood at just 17.8%.

Investors started overtaking first home buyers again in about August last year and annual growth in new mortgages taken out by them was up 90% to $1.153 billion, compared to the $607 million borrowed in January last year.