Credit to housing investors slowed in July and August to below the speed limit announced by the financial regulator last year.
Figures released on Wednesday by the Reserve Bank of Australia showed housing investors owed major lenders $565.2 billion in August, up by 0.7 per cent from July.
Combined with a rise of 0.6 per cent in July, it was the smallest two-month increase since September-October 2013.
If growth continued at the July-August pace for a year, it would come in at 8.1 per cent, well below the 10 per cent `line in the sand' set by APRA in December.
The RBA's figures showed total credit grew by 0.6 per cent in August, repeating July's rise, lifting annual credit growth to 6.3 per cent, a pace last seen in January 2009 and not exceeded since late 2008.
While investor housing credit rose at a slower pace over the latest two months, credit to owner occupiers picked up, gaining 0.5 per cent in July and 0.6 per cent in August, the strongest two months for four years.
As a result, the pace of total lending for housing stayed on a steady path, posting its twelfth consecutive monthly rise of 0.6 per cent, with annual growth at a four-year high of 7.5 per cent, the seasonally adjusted figures showed.
Personal credit aside from housing remained sluggish, with a monthly rise of 0.1 per cent an annual growth of 0.7 per cent.
But non-housing business credit continued to pick up gradually, with a rise of 0.5 per cent in August lifting annual growth to 5.3 per cent from 3.2 per cent a year earlier and 1.2 per cent a year before that.
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