Investors no longer sitting on the fence as mortgage pile rises
The mortgage pile for residential investors is rising faster than that for owner-occupiers.
Thursday, February 5th 2026, 10:17AM
Despite sitting on the sidelines for several years after the two-year post-pandemic buying frenzy, Reserve Bank data from its Banks Loans by Purpose series show investors’ mortgages hit $100 billion at the end of last year – an increase of $7.2 billion or 7.8% over the 12 months.
In contrast, owner-occupiers now owe $284.9 billion, with their mortgage pile increasing by 5.3% or $14.2 billion over the same time.
The post-pandemic investor buying rush was caused by the Reserve Bank lifting the loan-to-value (LVR) restrictions when it thought the housing market might crash.
Instead, investors competed with first home buyers for properties and took out more than $7 billion in mortgages in 2020 and 2021. This is the first time since then their mortgage pile has risen more than $7 billion in a year.
The RBNZ’s data shows total mortgage stock of $385.6 billion at the end of last year – an increase of 5.9% equating to $21.6 billion.
During December mortgage lending stock increased by $2.1 billion, or 0.6%, with the annual growth rate rising from 5.8% to 5.9%.
Owner occupier lending increased by $1.4 billion, or 0.5%, while residential investor lending increased by $738 million, or 0.7%.
Total housing lending on floating interest rates dropped by $11.6 billion, or 20.2%, while the housing lending on a fixed rates increased by $13.7 billion, or 4.2%, with a particular increase of $2.5 billion, or 199.8% on the four- and five-year terms.
Business lending stock rose by $559 million, or 0.4%, with the annual growth rate increasing from 3.7% to 4.0%.
The monthly increase was mainly driven by a $590 million, or a 1.3% rise in commercial property lending, while other business lending declined by $31 million, or 0.04%.
Household deposits rose by $3.1 billion, or 1.1% to $270 billion, with the annual growth rate declining from 4.4% to 4.1%.
Transaction balances increased by $2 billion, or 4.7%, marking its largest monthly increase since March 2021, while household term deposits and savings balances had monthly rises of $906 million, or 0.6% and $156 million, or 0.2% respectively.
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