And the pace of investor lending growth has slowed significantly in response to a wide range of price and non-price actions that have been taken by the banks (Graph 6). This has been a welcome development given the general maturing of the current housing cycle. Graph 6  The second main area of risk focus domestically has been in commercial property.
Historically this sector has been a common source of financial instability both here and abroad. During the height of the GFC, Australian banks remained in comparatively good shape but they did suffer a noticeable deterioration in asset performance, with the aggregate non-performance rate rising to just under 2 per cent of loans.