Investor housing credit has slowed to less than the speed limit set last year by the financial regulator, but demand for credit rose overall.
After a monthly rise of 0.4 per cent, the slowest for two and a half years, investor housing loans owed to domestic Australian lenders rose 9.7 per cent over the year to October, below 10 per cent for the first time since September 2014.
In December, the Australian Prudential Regulation Authority warned lenders not to grow their investor loan books by more than 10 per cent annually.
Total lending posted its second consecutive monthly rise of 0.7 per cent, lifting annual credit growth to 6.7 per cent, its fastest pace since 2008.
The strongest component was business credit, which rose by 1.0 per cent in October after a 1.1 per cent gain in September, making those the strongest two months of business credit growth since August-September 2008, just before the global financial crisis erupted.
