But will curbs on investor lending change landscape in year ahead?
Macquarie Bank continued its hot streak in October, growing its home loan book by 2.2% on a month-on-month basis by adding nearly $3.4 billion.
It brings Australia’s fifth-largest mortgage lender’s combined owner-occupier and investor loan book above $157 billion.
In comparison, Australia’s largest home lender Commonwealth Bank grew its book by 0.63%, while Westpac added 0.6%, NAB 0.51% and ANZ 0.36%, according to analysis of the latest data from the Australian Prudential Regulation Authority (APRA).
On a year-on-year basis, Macquarie’s mortgage book growth has soared by 23%, while none of the Big Four managed to climb above 7%.
Following Macquarie’s half-year results in November, head of broker sales Wendy Brown attributed the bank’s consistent growth to its commitment to the broker channel.
“Our strategy has been clear and consistent over many years. The broker channel has been and continues to be fundamental in enabling us to prudently grow our home loans business to where it is today, with brokers accounting for more than 95% of our home loan originations,” said Brown.
“Our continued growth is the result of our strong focus on delivering a highly competitive and industry-leading experience for brokers and customers,” she added.
CBA remains by far the largest home lender with over a quarter of all Australian home loans under its belt, but in the past 12 months when Macquarie has grown its book by 90 percentage points, CBA has grown by just three.
Each of Westpac, ANZ and NAB has seen a slight decline in market share.
The wider home lending market continues to expand amid soaring house prices and resilient consumer finances.
Over the past 12 months, total housing loans across all authorised deposit-taking institutions (which excludes non-bank lenders and fintechs) has increased by 6.2% to just shy of $2.4 trillion.
However, the market is entering a period of uncertainty as new APRA rules aimed at limiting the breakneck growth of investor lending come into place next year.
From 1 February 2026, banks will only be able to lend up to 20% of new mortgages at a debt-to-to-income ratio of six times or more.
Furthermore, both Macquarie and CBA have restricted trust and company lending (a favoured strategy among property investors) to varying extents as the regulators increasingly turn their gazes to high-risk investor strategies.
While the above developments will have limited impact individually, they signal that the investor-led boom in high-LVR lending could be reaching a ceiling.
That could raise alarms at Macquarie since, since it currently has the largest weighting on investor loans to owner-occupier loans, with investor share exceeding 38% as of October, compared to 34.5% at CBA and less than 34% at the remaining three.
However, Macquarie is also known for its preference for low-LVR lending, which could be a much-needed safety net amid ongoin scrutiny over high-risk mortgage lending.
