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Banks are seeing a surge in investor lending, with the annual pace of growth in investor volumes now outpacing that of owner-occupiers for the first time.
Banks saw a surge in investor lending in July 2025, with the annual pace of growth in investor volumes outstripping that of owner-occupiers for the first time since the Australian Prudential Regulation Authority (APRA) began tracking the data in 2019.
According to APRA’s latest Monthly Authorised Deposit-taking Institution Statistics (MADIS), owner-occupier lending continues to dominate bank books at more than $1.60 trillion. However, investment loan books at the banks are climbing rapidly, with investor mortgage books rising by 6.1 per cent over the year to July, compared with 5.6 per cent growth in owner-occupied lending.
While investor loan growth edged above owner-occupier growth in June (by just 0.2 percentage points), the gap widened significantly in July as investor books rose to a record $755 billion.
Bank-by-bank performance
Among the mainstream banks, Macquarie Bank led the charge in July, adding $1.48 billion in investor loans, up 2.73 per cent month on month, to $55.8 billion. Macquarie’s rapid expansion in the investor segment has been evident since May.
The Commonwealth Bank of Australia (CBA) – Australia’s largest lender – recorded the second-largest monthly increase, with its investor portfolio rising by $1.21 billion (0.60 per cent) to $203.3 billion. Despite slower growth than Macquarie, CBA continues to hold the largest investor loan book of all banks.
Westpac and National Australia Bank (NAB) each grew their investor portfolios by around $300 million in July, reaching $164.8 billion and $112.5 billion, respectively. Meanwhile, ANZ’s investor book slipped slightly, down 0.03 per cent to $105.3 billion.
Owner-occupier lending trends
When it came to owner-occupied lending growth, Macquarie Bank also posted the strongest growth figures in July, with volumes up 1.91 per cent ($1.73 billion) to $92 billion.
ING Bank (Australia) saw the second-largest increase in owner-occupier lending growth over the month, with its volumes rising 0.87 per cent to $53.5 billion.
Among the majors, CBA added just under $1 billion, bringing its owner-occupier portfolio to $392.5 billion. NAB grew by $700 million to $223.2 billion, while ANZ added $540 million to close July at $212.9 billion. Westpac’s book remained largely flat, rising by only $100 million to $323.6 billion.
The APRA data echoed similar findings from the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS). According to the ABS figures for the June quarter, the financial year closed with a surge in new investor loan commitments.
In the June 2025 quarter, 49,065 investor loans were approved – a 3.5 per cent rise from the previous quarter, following two consecutive quarterly declines. By comparison, 80,929 new owner-occupier loans were approved, representing just 0.8 per cent growth.
The total value of new investor loan commitments reached $32.9 billion, up 1.4 per cent ($443 million) on the previous quarter and 6.9 per cent higher than the same period in 2024. The average investor loan size also increased by $1,104 to $674,259.
Overall, there were 129,994 new loan commitments for dwellings in the June quarter, up 1.9 per cent on the March 2025 quarter, with the total value rising 2.0 per cent to $87.7 billion.
Dr Mish Tan, ABS head of finance statistics, noted that while rate cuts earlier in the year had yet to fully impact lending, the number of investor loans remained historically high.
“While annual growth slowed to 0.8 per cent from 27.0 per cent in the June quarter 2024, the number of new loans remained historically high,” she said.
Speaking to The Adviser’s Elite Broker podcast recently, Finni principal broker Eva Loisance suggested that there were more investors in market because they were reading the market better than owner-occupiers.
“I think they are the only ones that understand that it’s actually easy to get into the market where first home buyers and owner-occupiers have a different mindset; a mindset of it’s hard to get into market,” Loisance said.
She suggested that while there may be two identical clients in terms of assets, liabilities, and income, an investor client would be keen to purchase multiple properties, while an owner-occupier had a lower risk appetite.
“Someone on $100,000 may say: ‘I can’t afford to buy a house’. But the same person on $100,000 will have two investment properties,” Loisance said.
She suggested having a broker who can help them realise the opportunity and put “things black and white on paper that it works”.
“The tradition of ‘you buy a house you paid off’ may have worked in the past. But it’s just not enough anymore. And investors are realising that,” Loisance said.
Similarly, Fred Morelli, director of Adelaide-based brokerage Solid Finance, told The Adviser earlier this month that investors across all experience levels are active.
“There’s a lot of people trying to get into the investment market as a first-time opportunity, but we’re also seeing customers purchase their second, third or even fourth property,” he said.
“It’s a wide market. People are trying to get into property because they feel there’s been substantial growth over the last four or five years. That fear of missing out is driving younger investors, while seasoned investors are capitalising on margins from both new and existing properties.”
You can find out more about how brokers are supporting investor clients on The Adviser’s Elite Broker podcast with Eva Loisance from Finni here.
[Related: Investors outpace owner-occupiers in new lending: ABS]
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