Westpac's June quarter disclosure statement shows Westpac's mortgage book grew by $326 million to $35.8 billion in the three months. That's down from its $489 million growth in the March quarter but well above the December quarter's $29 million growth.
If Reserve Bank figures prove a good proxy for the numbers in banks' quarterly statements, that meant Westpac's market share was steady at 20.67% between the March and June quarters.
Most of the growth, $237 million, came from mortgages with loan-to-valuation ratios (LVRs) below 80% with another $77 million of growth coming from mortgages with LVRs between 80% and less than 90%. Those with LVRs above 90% grew by just $12 million.
The latter accounted for 8.8% of Westpac's mortgage book at June 30 while those with LVRs below 80% accounted for 75.7%, the same as at March 31.
Westpac's net profit jumped to $174 million in the three months from $96 million in the June quarter last year, taking its nine-months profit to $465 million, up 62% on the same nine months a year earlier.
The June quarter rise reflects charges against profit for bad debts more than halving to $31 million compared with $64 million in the June quarter last year while net interest income rose to $395 million from $316 million.
Banks generally are experiencing higher profit margins because so many mortgage holders have switched to higher-margin floating rate loans. Westpac's 25% increase in net interest margin is significantly higher than ANZ Bank's 3.2% increase in the June quarter and BNZ's 8% rise but is less than Kiwibank's 38% increase.
