Investment housing loan book growth overtakes owner-occupied lending for the first time

The Australian Prudential Regulation Authority (APRA) has released its monthly ADI statistics report for July 2025. APRA’s latest figures show the housing loan books for owner-occupier and investment housing. Agile Market Intelligence has plotted the publicly available APRA data, and calculated the growth rates revealing the accelerating growth of investment housing credit for the past 18 months.

Key stats you need to know

• Total housing loan book stands at $2.34 trillion in July 2025, comprising $1.59 trillion in owner-occupied loans and $756 billion in investment housing loans.
  
  
• Investment housing loan book growth at 6.1%, has overtaken owner-occupier loan book growth currently at 5.6%.
  
  
• Investment housing loan book growth has rapidly accelerated in the past 18 months, representing the strongest momentum in over two years.

Investment lending momentum builds

• Annual growth for investment housing loan books accelerated from 3.2% in March 2024 to 6.1% in July 2025, nearly double in the last 18 months.
  
  
• Investment mortgage growth has overtaken owner-occupied mortgages in June of 2025.
  
  
• Growth rate for owner-occupied housing loan book has moderated in the past 24 months.

Investment housing loan book has shown remarkable growth acceleration, rising from 3.2% in early 2024 to 6.1% in July 2025, despite high interest rates. This represents the strongest investment loan book growth in the past two years, and signals renewed confidence among property investors. The sustained acceleration suggests investors are capitalising on improved rental yields and reduced competition from owner-occupiers.

"Investment lending is showing its strongest momentum since the last cycle peak, suggesting investors see value emerging despite the higher rate environment," said Michael Johnson, Director at Agile Market Intelligence.

Owner-occupied lending growth continues to moderate

• Owner-occupied loan book growth slowed to 5.6% in July 2025, down from a peak in early 2023.
  
  
• Loan book for owner-occupiers reached $1.59 trillion in APRA’s last reporting for July 2025.
  
  
• Year-on-year growth rate remains positive at more sustainable levels, compared to pandemic-era peaks.

While still representing the majority of the total housing loan book (68%), the 5.6% growth rate shows a cautious approach from both borrowers and lenders. The growth rate has cooled, it remains positive at a sustainable level aligned with a more long-term mindset from borrowers rather than the elevated pandemic-driven activity. The moderation aligns with the impact of the high interest rates experienced over the past two years.

"Owner-occupiers are becoming selective and strategic in their borrowing decisions, a moderation to 5.6% reflects a market that’s not being moved by urgency," said Michael Johnson.

Market dynamics shift with investment lending growth overtaking owner-occupied lending

• Investment housing loan book growth is now 0.5 percentage points higher than owner-occupied housing loan book growth.
  
  
• Investment lending represents about 32% of the total housing loan book.

The past 12 months has seen accelerated expansion of the investment housing loan book, demonstrating remarkable resilience amid challenging market conditions. The trend of owner-occupied growth moderation and investment growth acceleration has been consistent over the past year, to a point where the latter has taken over. However, the recent rate cuts may reshape these dynamics once again, and whether lower borrowing costs could renew activity for owner-occupiers remains to be seen in the coming months. 

"We're seeing a fundamental rebalancing in housing credit dynamics, with investors becoming a larger part of the growth story while owner-occupiers settle into more sustainable patterns," said Michael Johnson.

About the data

Figures in this article were drawn by Agile Market Intelligence from APRA’s monthly ADI statistics to July 2025. The dataset covers total housing loans segmented into owner-occupied housing loans and investment housing loans across authorised deposit-taking institutions. Year-on-year changes are calculated as of July 2025, with historical figures included for context.

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