ANZ’s latest trading update has revealed increasing pressure beneath otherwise resilient lending, earnings, and margin performance.
Australia and New Zealand Banking Group (ANZ) has reported a post-budget fall in underlying mortgage applications, while Suncorp Bank’s home-loan portfolio contracted during the June quarter.
Releasing its third quarter 2026 trading update on Thursday (13 August), the bank revealed that mortgage application values fell 12 per cent between the 12 May federal budget and the end of July, compared with the second quarter, when the impact of the federal government’s 5 per cent Deposit Scheme was excluded.
On a quarter-on-quarter basis, ANZ said underlying application values declined 5 per cent.
Including the scheme, however, mortgage application values in the third quarter were broadly unchanged from the preceding three months.
ANZ’s disclosure suggests that government-backed first home buyer (FHB) activity has helped offset a softer broader mortgage market.
The figures add to further evidence of a slowdown in new mortgage demand across the major banks following the budget and amid changing tax settings and higher rates.
Westpac this week said that the number of mortgage applications had declined 20 per cent since the budget, while the Commonwealth Bank of Australia (CBA) reported a 15 per cent fall in the number of home loan applications between the budget and the end of July.
National Australia Bank (NAB) two weeks ago also revealed that new-loan demand dropped 15 per cent over three months.
Suncorp portfolio declines during integration
The bank’s mortgage book nonetheless expanded over the June quarter, with ANZ’s home-loan portfolio rising 2 per cent, or $7 billion, from $348 billion at March 2026 to $355 billion at June 2026.
However, that growth was not mirrored at Suncorp Bank, which ANZ acquired in 2024 and is progressively integrating into its operations.
Suncorp’s mortgage book fell 1 per cent over the period, declining from $62 billion to $61 billion.
The integration remains a significant operational focus for ANZ as it seeks to combine the businesses while retaining customers and progressing systems migration.
ANZ said the customer transfer program remained on schedule and added that 45 per cent of integration activities had been completed by June 2026 and that it was on track to reach 57 per cent by the end of September.
The lender noted that it was working towards completing a “safe and secure migration” of Suncorp Bank customers to ANZ by June 2027.
Credit quality also showed a modest decline, although ANZ said bad debts remained low.
Housing-loan repayments more than 90 days overdue increased by 3 basis points from the March quarter to 0.86 per cent. However, non-performing exposures represented only 0.55 per cent of total credit at June 2026, unchanged from the prior quarter.
Financially, ANZ posted a cash profit of $1.9 billion for the three months to 30 June, up 2 per cent on the third quarter of the prior year, with the bank adding that revenue was flat, while group net interest margin improved by 1 bp to 1.54 per cent.
ANZ also said that it had advanced work under the five immediate priorities within its 2030 strategy.
[Related: Mortgage slump spreads across every state and age group]
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