The number of delinquent housing loans underlying Australian prime residential mortgage-backed securities fell to 1.23 per cent in February from 1.29 per cent in January, according to a recent report by S&P Global Ratings. The month-on-month decline in arrears in February was unexpected, said S&P. It could mean that some of the rise in arrears in January was partly due to the timing of mortgage-rate increases; the weighted-average variable rate increased for a number of more recent transactions in January. Self-managed superannuation funds would be banned from borrowing money under a federal Labor government, the Financial Review reports. Housing affordability is a topic Australia's coalition government has flagged as a centrepiece of its budget, due in less than three weeks. APRA's and ASIC's activism to restrain credit flows to home loans fit into controversy. Labor will today outline a suite of new measures, although few are really new, being retreads of proposals underway in one form or another, such as a housing bond aggregator to provide cheaper funds for the private sector to build community housing.