Prudent Property Investor Growth Opportunities

Contributed by Darren Brent, PROPERTY BRIDGE – 1 May 2018

Prudent Property Investor Growth Opportunities

Property investors and Management Rights operators have been given a leg up with Australia’s banking regulatory authority, APRA, having announced it will abolish the 10 per cent investor loan growth benchmark applicable to lenders.

As of 1 July 2018, lenders that have been operating below the 10 per cent investor lending growth benchmark will no longer be required to do so, provided the Australian Prudential Regulation Authority (APRA) is satisfied with their policies and practices.

The benchmark, which was introduced in December 2014, was introduced to improve lending standards, APRA chairman Wayne Byres said in a letter announcing the change.
“Since the benchmark was applied in 2014, however, the ADI (authorised deposit-taking institution) industry has taken steps to improve the quality of lending and increase balance sheet resilience,” the chairman continued.

“There has been a clear reduction in higher-risk lending, with investor loan growth moderating, interest-only lending declining and high loan-to-valuation lending also markedly lower.
“There have also been improvements in lending policies, increasing the rigour of serviceability assessments for new borrowers. Accompanying this, there has been an uplift in capital resilience, as the industry makes progress towards the ‘unquestionably strong’ targets announced by APRA in mid-2017.”

Darren Brent
Managing Director
Property Bridge