Investors are continuing to increase their borrowing of credit from Australian lenders in order to fund housing purchases throughout the country, a new report reveals.
The Reserve Bank of Australia has published new data relating to the nation's housing investor credit borrowing, which shows that this metric increased by 0.6 per cent over the course of April 2017.
Business Insider reports that this is exactly the same rate of growth recorded for March, indicating that the current investment climate remains steady and stable.
When looking at the past 12 months as a whole, it can be seen that housing investor credit grew by 7.3 per cent, marking the fastest yearly increase recorded since January 2016. This also demonstrates slight growth from March, when the figure came in at 7.1 per cent.
Some experts expected to see a cooldown in activity from both domestic and overseas property investors last month due to the introduction of new measures from banking regulator APRA, which are designed to tighten the rules surrounding mortgage lending to certain borrowers.
As no significant effect of these new rules was seen during April, it may be a few more months until there is an impact on investor credit figures.
Commenting on the report's findings, JP Morgan economist Henry St John explained to Business Insider: "Despite April representing the first month in which macroprudential policy changes were in full effect, any slowdown in bank mortgage growth will likely first be seen in lending growth, before it begins to appear in credit numbers."
Meanwhile, the minutes of the Reserve Bank of Australia's May monetary policy meeting stated that it would take "some time to assess the full effects of recent increases in mortgage rates and the additional supervisory focus".
With experts warning that Australia's current property boom could be about to come to an abrupt halt, all eyes in the property market are sure to be on investor credit borrowing rates over the coming weeks and months.
The Reserve Bank of Australia has published new data relating to the nation's housing investor credit borrowing, which shows that this metric increased by 0.6 per cent over the course of April 2017.
Business Insider reports that this is exactly the same rate of growth recorded for March, indicating that the current investment climate remains steady and stable.
When looking at the past 12 months as a whole, it can be seen that housing investor credit grew by 7.3 per cent, marking the fastest yearly increase recorded since January 2016. This also demonstrates slight growth from March, when the figure came in at 7.1 per cent.
Some experts expected to see a cooldown in activity from both domestic and overseas property investors last month due to the introduction of new measures from banking regulator APRA, which are designed to tighten the rules surrounding mortgage lending to certain borrowers.
As no significant effect of these new rules was seen during April, it may be a few more months until there is an impact on investor credit figures.
Commenting on the report's findings, JP Morgan economist Henry St John explained to Business Insider: "Despite April representing the first month in which macroprudential policy changes were in full effect, any slowdown in bank mortgage growth will likely first be seen in lending growth, before it begins to appear in credit numbers."
Meanwhile, the minutes of the Reserve Bank of Australia's May monetary policy meeting stated that it would take "some time to assess the full effects of recent increases in mortgage rates and the additional supervisory focus".
With experts warning that Australia's current property boom could be about to come to an abrupt halt, all eyes in the property market are sure to be on investor credit borrowing rates over the coming weeks and months.
