Residential property investors and borrowers with interest-only or high LVR loans have been slower to exit mortgage repayment deferral arrangements, Commonwealth Bank reported in its latest deferral update.

CBA said that the number of facilities it has on deferral fell by 45,000 to 129,000 in September, made up of 93,000 home loans, 31,000 SME business loans and 5000 “other” (including personal loans and non-SME business loans).

The value of those facilities is A$42 billion – down from $59 billion in August.

At the peak in June the bank had 210,000 facilities on deferral, worth $67 billion.

The bank described the numbers as “an encouraging trend” and said it expects further significant reductions this month.

The value of new or extended deferrals in September was $8.4 billion (the figures given above are net of new or extended deferrals).

The proportion of home loans on deferral fell from 8.2 per cent in June to 6 per cent in September, while the proportion of SME loans on deferral fell from 19.4 per cent in June to 9.4 per cent.

A higher proportion of owner occupier home loan borrowers have exited deferral, leading to an increase in the proportion of mortgages on deferral that are investor loans (34 per cent), interest-only loans (16.3 per cent) and loans with loan-to-valuation ratios above 90 per cent (14.2 per cent).

The bank said its focus is on contacting customers as they approach the end of their initial deferrals period to discuss their options.