Property investors make up two in every five Australian home loans amid record borrowing | Housing

Property investors have borrowed record amounts of money for home purchases amid a decline in first home buyer lending and surging house prices.

Investors accounted for two in every five home loans from July to September, the Australian Bureau of Statistics reported on Wednesday, sparking calls for the Albanese government to force banks to put the brakes on landlord lending.

More than 57,000 investors borrowed nearly $40bn to buy homes over the three months, a 17.6% increase on the combined value of the loans from the previous three months and a 13.6% increase on the number of new investment loans.

First home buyer numbers rose just 2.3% in the September quarter compared with the previous three months, but fell 0.23% overall in the year to September compared with the previous year.

Owner-occupier loan numbers increased just 2% on a quarterly basis, the ABS data showed.

_{Sign up: AU Breaking News email}

Landlord loans have steadily increased since March 2023 at a faster rate than owner-occupier loans. Mish Tan, the ABS head of finance statistics, attributed 2025’s acceleration to interest rate cuts and low vacancy rates in rental housing.

The Reserve Bank in November noted investor credit was growing at its fastest pace since 2015, having picked up even before the RBA cut interest rates three times in 2025.

Rapid rises in investor lending in 2014 prompted the Australian Prudential Regulation Authority to warn banks it would treat annual growth rates above 10% as a risk, forcing banks to cut back.

Wednesday’s data showed investor credit rising at nearly double that rate, prompting the Greens senator Barbara Pocock to call for Apra intervention.

“We need to urgently rein in an overheated credit market for property investors,” she said.

Pocock on Wednesday wrote to the head of Apra, John Lonsdale, urging him to “pull the handbrake”, and to the treasurer, Jim Chalmers, encouraging him to direct Apra to intervene.

Regulatory intervention in the mid-2010s dragged down home prices and could do so again, according to Cotality’s head of research, Eliza Owen.

House prices recorded their fastest monthly increase in two years in October, up 1.1% or a median $10,000, and have already risen more than 6% in 2025 so far, Cotality data showed.

The RBA governor, Michele Bullock, said in November intervention could help stabilise the housing market in the event of future rate cuts but was not necessary.

An Apra spokesperson said in October the regulator was watching for risky lending and discussing limits on investor, interest-only or small-deposit loans with banks.

Westpac and NAB’s annual results in early November showed investors accounted for more than two-fifths of new home loans at the two banks in the six months to September.

Handing down the result, Westpac’s chief executive, Anthony Miller, said investors were “attractive” customers and the bank would continue to pursue them with low mortgage interest rates.

“We’ve just got to … be careful about the outlook and the risks that come from going too far too fast in a particular segment, but we think we’ve got the balance right,” Miller said.