As read in The Adviser Australia’s mortgage arrears were stable in June for prime residential mortgage-backed securities (RMBS) and down for non-conforming securities.

According to Standard & Poor’s performance index, 1.07 per cent of prime RMBS were in arrears for the month – unchanged from May – while non-conforming RMBS in arrears fell to 4.83 per cent from 4.95 per cent.

The report said most of the movement in June was recorded in the 90-plus day category.

The index measures the weighted-average arrears more than 30 days past due on residential mortgage loans in publicly and privately rated Australian RMBS transactions, and identifies the proportion of loans in arrears in each of the following categories: 31 to 60 days, 61-90 days and 90-plus days.

Meanwhile, new statistics released by the Australian Bureau of Statistics revealed that mortgage lending growth slowed dramatically in the last financial year.

Housing finance for owner-occupiers reached $195.9 billion in 2014-15 after growing 7.8 per cent over the year, according to the ABS.

That was a significant drop on the 14.6 per cent growth recorded in 2013-14, although higher than the 4.7 per cent figure in 2012-13 and 6.1 per cent figure in 2011-12.

John can be contacted on 0749722081 or 0410433919. or email him at jwhitten@ihl.net.au or net www.ihl.net.au. John Whitten is a credit representative (CRN 399796) of BLASSA Pty Ltd (Australian Credit Licence No 391237).