Monika Lacey: Centrix Chief Operating Officer on mortgage lending rising year on year

Refinancing activity is continuing to surge as the Official Cash Rate continues to fall. 

Latest Centrix figures show mortgage enquiries are up 16% for the month of July and new mortgage lending rose almost 25%.

Chief Operating Officer Monika Lacey says the market is active at the moment and people are keen to get the best deal they can. 

She told Mike Hosking that about 36% of fixed mortgages are set to roll off in the next six months, so that’s quite a bit of activity that will start to flow through.

Lacey says it should result in a bit more cash in people’s pockets. 

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
It seems we've got a lift of sorts in housing,

(00:01):
which is good. So spring is here for on by
a band of course, we're investors adjustable. Talk to lux
and about that after seven o'clock and new sets that
show mortgage inquiries are up sixteen percent. New lending is
up over twenty four percent year on year. Monica Lacy
is Centric Chief operating Officer in his back with this, Monica,
good morning to you.

Speaker 2 (00:18):
Good morning mate.

Speaker 1 (00:18):
Do we feel a vibe here?

Speaker 2 (00:21):
Possibly? I think a lot of the new mortgage lending
activity is definitely driven by the changing inter thrates and
people shopping around for the best deal they can get.
So whether that ends up translating and continuing to grow
was yet to be saying.

Speaker 1 (00:37):
Good piece of clarification. So what you term new mortgage
lending is not fresh money. It is just people renegotiating
what they've already got.

Speaker 2 (00:44):
It's a combination. That's actually the RBNZ definition. So that's both.

Speaker 1 (00:49):
Okay, twenty four percent, so a lot of people on turnover,
but the interest rates are lower, so that presumably leads something.
So we don't know whether there's much more money out
there in the market buying more homes yet from our data,
and I okay, does anyone crunch the numbers on what
they're choosing at the moment? By the way, is it fixed,
is it floating, is it how fixed? For how long?
All that sort of stuff.

Speaker 2 (01:10):
I don't have that information in front of me. I
think the RBNS had published that. But what I do
know is that is about thirty six percent of fixed
mortgages to roll off in the next six months. So
that's quite a bit of activity that will start to
see flow through. And that should also result in a
bit more cash in people's pockets, which will be good.

Speaker 1 (01:26):
If I ask you a pop question now, Monica, the
question is do you think there will be more mortgage
cuts coming before the end of the year. What's your answer?

Speaker 2 (01:35):
The indication certainly is that we'll see at least another one.
Whether there'll be two or not, I don't know, but
we'll just have to wait and say.

Speaker 1 (01:42):
The reason I ask you that question is there was
a poll out yesterday that said sixty six percent of
New Zealanders don't think there'll be any more cuts before
the end of the year. And I just find that
astounding that people are so asleep that we all know
more was coming and that's what the Reserve Bank has said,
and that's what we need, et cetera. So I just
wonder if this sort of weird disc connect in the
market of no one knows what the hell's going on.

Speaker 2 (02:04):
Yeah, that's very well, it definitely sounds like it, doesn't it. Sorry,
it's a shame actually, because what we need is people
to feel confident to help ten things around a little
bit more.

Speaker 1 (02:11):
Exactly as far as things or money is owed at
the moment, four hundred and eighty thousand people in areas,
it's up a couple of thousand. Is that material?

Speaker 2 (02:18):
It's not like it's a really small percentage of the
overall population. We've got four million credit active kiwis in
the market. Of those eighty one thousand or in ninety
days plus, so that's quite a severe delinquency stage. So,
I mean, that's a big number on its own, but
in the context it's actually quite small. So overall kiweis
are doing quite well in managing their financial situations.

Speaker 1 (02:41):
Good to hear in ninety days and that numbers actually
for those who are in trouble ninety days, which are
a reasonable period of time. As you point out, that
number is trending down or is it least flat year?

Speaker 2 (02:50):
Yeah, it is. The late stage areas is flat. In
the early stag areas is trending down, so that means
that should start to flow through into the lower late stagery.
So you know there is a positive sign there.

Speaker 1 (03:02):
Good stuff all right, Nice to catch up as always,
Monica Lacy, who's the chief operating officer at Centrix. By
the way, just quickly on the listings yesterday, more listings,
but we've never had a problem with listenings. Have been
record numbers of listenings and plenty of houses for sale.
But over the August period nine percent left to Auckland
up thirteen percent, Wellington eleven, Wycato nine, buy plenty forty six.

(03:24):
Something's gone on there that'll be a new development or
something gives been up forty percent. So those are monthly numbers.
But six regions year on year, month on month asking
price growth in the Bay a plenty, Courri, Mental Gisban, Manuatu,
North lond and Taranaki. So I think there is some
life there after all.

Speaker 2 (03:38):
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