Lenders wind back their high LVR lending

Ian Rogers
Lenders wound back the percentage of new home loans they advanced to borrowers with little equity over the December 2014 quarter, a period marked by a new vigour on the part of the prudential regulator to curb this form of lending.

Mortgages with a loan to valuation ratio of 90 per cent or more accounted for 11.4 per cent of new loans over the quarter, down from 12 per cent the quarter before (by value).

This ratio hovered around 14 per cent in 2012 and 2013.

The proportion of interest-only loans (another area of concern for the regulators) rose from 42.5 per cent in the September quarter to 42.9 per cent in the December quarter.

New business levels were brisk for banks, with total new residential term loans to households approved reaching A$93 billion during the December 2014 quarter. This is a lift of nine per cent over the average level of lending across the prior four quarters.

Investment loans accounted for 34.3 per cent of home loans.



APRA said "loans approved outside serviceability" reached $3.3 billion, more than one fifth above the mean for recent quarters.