A mortgage expert says delays to lending requests may have stopped people buying homes

Banks were swamped with home-loan applications and refinancing requests late last year, after interest rates dropped.

Finance and Mortgage Advisers Association country manager, Leigh Hodgetts, says applications were taking up to five weeks in November and December - not the usual five days.

She says there were possibly people who missed out on buying because they couldn't get approval.

Hodgetts says getting a pre-approved loan to go to an auction was off the table.

She says most banks have now caught up on their backlogs.