In recent years concern about investor lending has led the Australian Prudential Regulation Authority to limit growth in Australian bank lending to residential investors, the Basel Committee on banking supervision has recently recommended significant increases in the amount of capital held against investor mortgage lending, and the Bank of England has proposed rules that effectively tighten lending criteria for investor mortgages.
Despite high rates of debt repayment, housing credit increased by 8 percent in the year to March 2016, its highest growth rate since 2008. New mortgage commitments are also elevated, running at an annual rate of 35 percent of outstanding housing debt.