The September credit figures reinforce the need for the Reserve Bank to take a lengthy pause to assess the inflation environment, ASB chief economist Nick Tuffley says.
Growth in credit for housing was muted in September and was slowing steadily on an annual basis.
House price growth had continued to slow.
Sales lifted slightly over the September quarter as a whole but turnover was still down 12% from year-earlier levels, he said.
Consumer credit growth continued to lift and, at 6.7% annually, was comfortably outstripping mortgage growth.
Overall household credit growth had slowed in the past three months and the trend was the slowest since the first half of 2012 when mortgage growth was at its global-financial-crisis low point, Mr Tuffley said.
''We expect annual growth will continue to slow as the housing market moderates further.''
Business credit growth had sat at about 4% annually in recent months, a slight increase in pace - but still a modest pace.
Now the economy was expanding, there was scope for growth to lift slightly as businesses increasingly focused on lifting capacity or improving efficiency, he said.
Agriculture credit growth remained moderate in September, continuing a run of low credit demand combined with debt repayment.
Future credit growth influences were mixed: borrowing demand for investment and land purchases was likely to be limited but greater use of overdrafts was likely in the wake of reduced dairy cash flows over the next year.
In contrast, deposits by the agriculture sector were up 24% over the past 12 months, indicating the sector had been prudent with its recent run of strong earnings and was financially prepared for a ''rainy day''.
Looking at the home mortgage market, Mr Tuffley said borrowing continued to migrate to fixed-term loans, but the pace was slowing.
About 71% of loans by value were fixed, 0.5% higher than in August. The pattern of fixing suggested the bulk of change was by people selecting a two-year rate.
''With the OCR increasingly likely to be on hold for a considerable time, there is even less urgency for borrowers to seek protection from further OCR rises.''
ASB forecasts the Reserve Bank will hold off lifting the OCR from 3.5% until September 2015.
Other banks had started forecasting no rate rise until 2016 with the rate to peak at 4%.
