Home loans arrears worsening for Westpac
Westpac was the only bank among the Big Four banks to see an increase in both 30-plus and 60-plus day delinquencies, data compiled by Moody's shows.Arrears of 30-days plus at Westpac rose to 0.92 per cent at the end of September 2010, from 0.86 per cent in June. Arrears of 90-days plus rose to 0.49 per cent from 0.41 per cent. Thirty-day delinquencies at the end of September were also significantly higher than the five-year average for Westpac of 0.67 per cent.Among other big banks, ANZ saw an increase in 60-plus day delinquencies, to 0.22 per cent from 0.02 per cent, but saw a drop in 30-plus day delinquencies. The rest saw falls in both 30-plus and 90-day plus past-due assets.Since Westpac was a much larger user of securitisation before the credit crunch hit there is more data on this segment of the bank's home loans for ratings agencies to review.Westpac (and St George) still have A$23 billion in loans financed through securitisation, compared with just $206 million for ANZ, $6.4 billion for CBA and $1.4 billion for NAB.Among smaller mortgage funders, First Mortgage Company, with a pool of $1.5 billion in mortgages, saw the biggest jump in delinquencies, with 30-plus day past-due assets surging to 3.5 per cent, from 1.1 per cent, and 60-plus day delinquencies rising to 3.2 per cent, from 0.6 per cent. First Mortgage's delinquency rate was also the highest.In the case of non-conforming mortgages - itself a near-dormant market segment - Bendigo and Adelaide Bank had the highest delinquency rate, of 20.6 per cent, for 30-plus day past-due loans. This was better than the one-year average of 22.1 per cent, but worse than the three-year average.Liberty Financial saw the most improvement, with 30-plus day delinquencies dropping to 5.6 per cent compared with the one-year average of 12.4 per cent.