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ANZ has joined ASB and Westpac in requiring that real estate investors have 30 percent deposits to qualify for home loans.
On Thursday, ASB announced that it would lift its deposit requirements for investors, without moving the 20 percent deposit normally required of first-time home buyers.
Westpac maintained the 30 percent deposit requirement for investors even after the Reserve Bank lifted its loan-to-value restrictions in April.
Ben Kelleher, managing director of personal banking at ANZ, said the move was designed to get more New Zealanders to own homes.
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“It is in everyone’s interest that residential property prices are sustainable in the long term and that home ownership is accessible to as many Kiwis as possible,” Kelleher said.
“In October, a record month for ANZ home loans, 31 percent of our home loan commitments went to real estate investors, while 19 percent went to first-time home buyers.
STACY SQUIRES / Stuff
Property prices have increased rapidly.
“Today we made the decision to increase the deposit required by real estate investors to 30 percent, up from 20 percent today for new home loan applications as of December 7.”
He said: “As a responsible lender, it is important to us to help clients make good loan decisions and for clients to have a level of loans that they can comfortably repay. Covid-19 has made the housing market and lending decisions more complex, and we believe that any step we can take to increase balance and sustainability in the market is the right thing to do. “
ASB CEO Vittoria Shortt said a huge surge in property demand from investors threatened to push the nation’s home prices down a “potentially unsustainable path.”
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ASB CEO Vittoria Shortt announced that ASB was raising the deposits investors need to 30 percent.
“ASB believes that a balanced and sustainable housing market is the best for all New Zealanders,” he said.
The 30 percent deposit required of investors was for houses, and the deposit requirements for investors buying apartments were often higher, sometimes up to 50 percent for very small “shoebox” apartments in major city centers, said Loan Market mortgage broker Karen Tatterson. .
BNZ did not plan to make an announcement on investor deposits, spokesman Michael Burgess said.
“BNZ always takes a prudent approach to lending to ensure that people are able to repay their loans, even without LVR restrictions from RBNZ,” he said.
“We believe that clients should have some equity in their homes to ensure they are well positioned given the continued economic uncertainty from Covid-19.”
But, he said: “As with all of our pricing and credit setups, these remain under periodic review, but we have no changes to announce at this time.”
