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Old Mortgage News

Total bank loans fall in March Qtr but household lending rises: KPMG

Monday 1st of August 2011

"I guess we were slightly surprised by it (the rise in household lending). I guess people still need to spend to live," says KPMG partner John Kensington.

Driving the increase in household lending, BNZ's lending rose $311 million, ANZ Bank's rose $134 million, Westpac's $67 million and Kiwibank's $244 million, KPMG says.

It's possible there may be some classification issues behind the numbers such as loans to small businesses secured against housing being classified as retail mortgages, Kensington says.

Nevertheless, "this is positive news for the housing sector with the Real Estate Institute reporting that there were 5,848 house sales in March 2011 (an increase of 29.9% from February)," KPMG says.

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