{"id":649487,"date":"2026-05-04T18:02:10","date_gmt":"2026-05-04T18:02:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/649487\/"},"modified":"2026-05-04T18:02:10","modified_gmt":"2026-05-04T18:02:10","slug":"australias-property-investor-borrowing-rises-at-fastest-rate-in-a-decade-despite-interest-rate-rises-housing","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/649487\/","title":{"rendered":"Australia\u2019s property investor borrowing rises at fastest rate in a decade – despite interest rate rises | Housing"},"content":{"rendered":"

Property investor borrowing rose at its fastest rate in a decade in March, according to the Reserve Bank, despite higher interest rates<\/a> and speculation about property tax changes<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Owner-occupier loan growth slowed under the weight of growing mortgage costs but investor lending is continuing its record surge.<\/p>\n

Bank loans to Australian investors grew by $42bn in the year to March, a 9.6% increase and the fastest rate since September 2015, according to the central bank\u2019s statistics.<\/p>\n

Alannah Comer and her partner were among thousands of Australians who haven taken out investment loans. The Sydney-based couple bought on the city\u2019s northern outskirts in December.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe just thought, why wait?\u201d Comer said.<\/p>\n

Sign up for the Breaking News Australia email<\/a><\/p>\n

\u201cObviously, we understand that rates and everything are going to change, but I always just was like: \u2018As soon as we\u2019re in a position to buy it, I definitely want to just head straight in\u2019.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Reserve Bank has hiked interest rates twice already this year since they bought their investment property and economist predict the central bank will raise rates again on Tuesday, but the couple do not regret their decision. Their property has already risen in value.<\/p>\n

Rumoured reforms to capital gains tax in next week\u2019s budget could eat into her profits, but Comer is not deterred, even planning for another purchase in coming years.<\/p>\n

\u201c[We\u2019ll] obviously be cautious, keep an eye out on what is happening in the world and see how we\u2019re coping [and] \u2026 if it is worthwhile, obviously getting another property,\u201d Comer said.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s still kept the momentum and people still need to buy and sell.\u201d<\/p>\n

Investors borrowed a record near-$43bn<\/a> in 2025 as interest rates fell and home prices surged.<\/p>\n

graph showing investor lending outstripping owner-occupier lending in recent months<\/a><\/p>\n

Loans to owner-occupiers rose only 6.2% in the year to March, slowing since December as interest rates pushed buyers out of the market. Auction clearance rates have dropped<\/a> to below 60% and price growth has slowed<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Loan Market, a mortgage broking company saw first home buyers\u2019 applications drop by a third after a brief bump after March\u2019s rate rise. Investor applications, meanwhile, are higher than they were at the start of the year.<\/p>\n

Beau Cook, a Loan Market broker in Richmond, Sydney, said he would typically have about one investor for every four owner-occupiers applying through his branch.<\/p>\n

He now has four investors, for one first home buyer.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s completely turned on its head in the last three months,\u201d Cook said.<\/p>\n

ANZ and NAB have each reported investors accounted for more than two-fifths of their new home loans in the six months to March, continuing a steady rise.<\/p>\n

The banks have also given early signs interest rate rises could put property out of lower-income earners\u2019 reach.<\/p>\n

NAB on Monday reported people earning less than $200,000 a year accounted for about 10% of applications for investor loans in the six months to March, down from close to 15% the year prior.<\/p>\n

A rising share of investors with ANZ and NAB have taken out interest-only loans, which have smaller short-term repayments but leave the borrower saddled with bigger long-term debt.<\/p>\n

Madeline Dunk, an ANZ economist says a rate hike is likely on Tuesday and that markets expect another by year\u2019s end, meaning investors will become more constrained<\/p>\n

\u201cI do expect you\u2019ll see investor housing credit slow,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve seen that drop-off in activity in the housing market [and] a lot of that will be driven by slowing in investor activity.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Property investor borrowing rose at its fastest rate in a decade in March, according to the Reserve Bank,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":649488,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[64,63,44],"class_list":["post-649487","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-australia","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/649487","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=649487"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/649487\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/649488"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=649487"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=649487"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=649487"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}