Small uptick in Westpac's mortgage arrears despite dip in Perth
Westpac has posted a 16 per cent loss in profits over the FY2019.
They wrote $61 billion worth of home loans over the 12 months to September, with their mortgage portfolio growing from $444.7 billion to $449.2 billion.
Their home loan delinquencies have continued to rise over the year across the board, with a slight uptick over the last six months.
Mortgage holders behind on their mortgage over 30 days, and 90 bays behind are now up around 20bps since this time last year.
The biggest jump came in the first half yearly update, but they've continued to nudge higher in the second half of the year.
Western Australia accounted for the spike in the first half of the year for delinquencies over 90 days, however they have started to fade following suggestions the housing market has bottomed.
The spike came from Queensland, with New South Wales, the Australian Capital Territory and Victoria continuing to head in the wrong direction.
Some 160 more properties over the year were taken over by the bank.
Westpac Group CEO Brian Hartzer said 2019 has been a disappointing year.
"Financial results are down significantly in a challenging, low-growth, low interest rate environment," he said, adding that 2020 will "continue to be challenging".
"However, we believe our service led strategy, disciplined growth and solid portfolio of businesses will deliver for shareholders and customers," Hartzer added.
Mortgage Portfolio
Westpac's owner-occupier percentage continued to grow, as did their percentage of first home buyers taking out home loans.
They continued to trim their interest only home loans which is down eight per cent over the year, now just over a quarter of their loan book.
Investor property loans dropped off slightly over the last six months, having been unmoved in the first half of the financial year.
