'Mortgage demand remains the strongest'

Credit bureau Equifax says 96% of all accounts previously in mortgage deferral are now up to date

Personal Finance

Credit bureau Equifax says 96% of all accounts previously in mortgage deferral are now up to date

4th Dec 20, 9:44am by Gareth Vaughan

Credit bureau Equifax has released its latest New Zealand consumer credit demand insights report, for November.

Equifax says the key features of the report are;

Consumer Credit demand continues to strengthen in all portfolios.
Of all portfolios, mortgage demand remains the strongest - well up on pre-COVID levels.
Commercial credit demand is consistently back at 2019 levels.
Overall repayment history arrears remain well down on pre-COVID levels.
Credit card arrears have increased for the first time since May 2020. There is a slight increase in repayment arrears 30 days past due.
Mortgage payment deferrals are down compared with the prior month, now less than 4% of total accounts.
96% of all accounts previously in mortgage deferral are up to date.

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9 Comments

by Nifty1 | 4th Dec 20, 9:58am 1607029119

Can't borrow more against the home... just rack up debt on credit cards. Will be interesting to see if this gets worse as we go into 2021.

by Millennial_Woman | 4th Dec 20, 10:13am 1607030033

Of course they are not >30 days delinquent at the end of October, Most deferrals ended at the start of October. Delinquencies will rise starting in November and December.

by Spectators | 4th Dec 20, 10:15am 1607030104

Load up on debt peeps. If it gets too hard to repay they'll just lower the interest rates. Buy a house or 3 and get yourself a Range Rover or Ranger for the rugged terrain of the inner city streets. Life is good.

by Nifty1 | 4th Dec 20, 10:40am 1607031648

Ride high in your range rover and look down on those less fortunate.

by stuart786786 | 4th Dec 20, 1:05pm 1607040351

RBNZ and Government both want Debt economy.

Is it good....

by DanBee | 4th Dec 20, 1:36pm 1607042207

Is it just me... but didn't the Reserve Bank only introduce the mortgage deferral scheme on the 26th March. But this data suggests there were 1% of accounts deferred back in January!

Trusted data source? I'm not convinced...

by PatrickW | 4th Dec 20, 3:05pm 1607047511

OECD report current update :NZ- Household saving ratio, net(% of disposable income). 1.9% one of the lowest in OECD countries. Better hope rates and unemployment remain low for or a very long time. Either way constraints on further consumption moving forward stagnant at best with a long term drag on economic activity for years to come. And need I remind you were are close to zero bound.

by Independent_Observer | 4th Dec 20, 3:12pm 1607047975

Yip we could see 'lost decades' ahead, similar to Japan 1990's....

by fortunr | 6th Dec 20, 2:23pm 1607217812

Thank to Orr, if we are lucky we shall see a Japan scenario for the next 10 years at least, with anaemic growth and extremely low inflation. If we are not so lucky, in the medium term we could well get an implosion of asset prices (housing in particular).
Yes we are different to Japan, but while we have positives when compared to them, we also have negatives. And we are pursuing the same stupid, reckless, shortsighted monetary policy.