New residential lending gained momentum in the second quarter, APRA data has found.
Residential lending jumped in the June 2025 quarter, as total new loans neared $200 billion, according to the Australian Prudential Regulation Authority (APRA).
APRA’s Quarterly ADI Property Exposures Statistics for the second quarter showed that new residential loans funded rose to $187.6 billion, up 16.2 per cent year on year.
Residential loan books ended the quarter at $2.39 trillion, up 5.7 per cent year on year.
Owner-occupied loans maintained their dominance at 63.6 per cent of new originations, virtually unchanged from a year earlier.
In the June quarter, commercial lending activity also picked up.
Commercial property exposures jumped 9.4 per cent year on year to $464.1 billion, while exposure limits increased to $498.9 billion, up 9.0 per cent from June 2024.
Analysing the data, market research firm Agile Market Intelligence noted that the commercial property sector continues to attract strong bank appetite, as shown by the year-on-year growth.
The trend suggests sustained confidence in commercial real estate, despite broader economic headwinds, as banks expand both their actual lending and risk appetite in the segment, Agile added.
“The 9.4 per cent growth in commercial property lending tells us banks see opportunity in this sector. They’re not just maintaining exposure – they’re actively growing it and increasing their risk appetite limits. That’s a strong confidence signal,” Michael Johnson, director of Agile Market Intelligence, said.
At the broader portfolio level, total residential mortgage credit outstanding from the banks increased 5.7 per cent year on year, to just under $2.4 trillion.
Owner-occupier loans represented 67.5 per cent of total mortgage credit, down 25 basis points from June 2024, while investment loans accounted for 30.5 per cent, up 22 bps over the same period.
The APRA data aligns with industry figures that show broker market share continues to grow.
The most recent broker market share results published by the Mortgage & Finance Association of Australia (MFAA) showed that brokers wrote 76.8 per cent of all new home loans in the March 2025 quarter, the highest level on record.
[Related: Home loan books rise at 8 out of 10 of the biggest banks]
