To my relief, and slight surprise, it turns out that most of the banks started the boom with such a comfortable cushion of shareholders’ funds that they would be able to repay their debts on the basis of their own resources. This includes the two big banks.
It has then increased somewhat since the turn of the millennium, but the trend decline in the growth rate continues. In this situation, people will have lower expectations concerning future income growth and their spending and investment will be restrained, which will in turn lead to price declines.