Regulators Have Eye On Housing Investors In Australia

SYDNEY — Financial regulators are keeping an eye on Australia’s booming housing market, but at this stage, they are comfortable that lending standards have not been relaxed.

New lending figures for April are released on June 4, which potentially will see a further rise in new housing loans after increasing 5.5 percent to a record high in March, to be a huge 55.3 percent higher than a year earlier.

The strength in lending has gone hand-in-hand with rising house prices, which nationally stand over 10 percent higher than a year earlier.

Lending has largely been secured by owner-occupiers, and particularly first home buyers.

However, in Senate hearings, this week officials from both the Reserve Bank of Australia and the banking watchdog, the Australian Prudential Regulation Authority, made a point of noting the return of investors in recent months.

Investor home lending jumped 12.7 percent in March, the largest monthly rise since July 2003.

Australian Prudential Regulation Authority chairman Wayne Byres reminded senators that the last time the regulator intervened in the market to curb what are seen as riskier loans to investors in 2017, interest-only loans were running at 40 percent of all loans being granted.

But that was quickly halved as lending criteria were tightened.

However, he said there is no intention of intervening at the moment, insisting he does not have a threshold where he would step in.

The authority published the statement of the chairman.

“In April, Australian Prudential Regulation Authority commenced consultation on the draft guidance to assist industry meet the requirements of Australian Prudential Regulation Authority’s updated prudential standard on remuneration. As you will recall, the Royal Commission recommended Australian Prudential Regulation Authority substantially upgrade its prudential requirements in relation to the way remuneration arrangements in the financial sector operate,” the statement read.

“The draft guidance sets out principles and examples of better practice to assist banks, insurers and superannuation licensees comply with Australian Prudential Regulation Authority’s proposed prudential standard on remuneration, which will be finalized later this year.”

But that was quickly halved as lending criteria were tightened.

However, he said there is no intention of intervening at the moment, insisting he does not have a threshold where he would step in.

Reserve Bank of Australia assistant governor Michelle Bullock was also comfortable that lending standards had not been relaxed.

The central bank has repeatedly said it won’t be raising interest rates to cool a heated housing market.

It is sticking to its line that the cash rate won’t be increased from its current record low of 0.1 percent until 2024 at the earliest.

(Edited by Vaibhav Vishwanath Pawar and Praveen Pramod Tewari)