The ACCC appears to have overestimated the strength of Australian mortgage competition when announcing last year that it would not oppose the Westpac / St George and Commonwealth Bank / Bankwest mergers.

The ACCC’s Public Competition Assessment in August 2008 calculated the merged Westpac / St George entity would at that point have had a mortgage market share of 21%. At the end of September 2009 the combined Westpac / St George entity has 23.4% mortgage market share, according to the forthcoming CoreData-brandmanagement Australian Mortgage Report.

In forming its view last year the ACCC noted a number of regional banks were expanding their presence in other states, citing Bankwest, Bank of Queensland, Suncorp and Bendigo Bank.
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The annual Deloitte Australian Mortgage Report - Adapting in volatile times reveals that total outstanding mortgage lending across Australia continues to grow at around 10% p.a. to September 2008 this year despite the volatile economic conditions.

Settlements however, were subdued, down more than 20% to less than $20 billion a month since September 2007.
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