NZ Mortgage Borrowing Hits Lowest Level Since February

New mortgage borrowing in New Zealand hit its lowest level since February at $7.9 billion in July, according to Reserve Bank (RBNZ) figures.

This represents a 7% fall from June's total of $8.5 billion and a 13.1% drop compared with the same month last year.

The number of borrowers taking out new mortgage commitments also declined, down 4.9% month-on-month to 21,268, and down 7.2% annually from 22,930 a year earlier.

Investors pulled back further in July, with their share of new commitments falling to 18.9%, down from 19.5% in June and 2.3 percentage points lower than a year ago.