Investor loans surge to record 41% share as new housing loan values reach $98.8 billion

The September 2025 edition of the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) quarterly lending indicators revealed that over 4 in 10 new housing loans last quarter were investor loans. Although the 143,127 total number of new loans was above average over the past 5 years, the number investment loans vs owner-occupier is at the highest it has been. Agile Market Intelligence takes a look at historical data leading up to this figure. 

Key stats you need to know

• 41% of new loan commitments in September 2025 are investment loans, almost double the 23% from Q4 2020.
  
  
• Q3 2025 recorded $98.8 billion in new loans, 41% of which is also coming from investment loans.
  
  
• The $98.8 billion total value of new housing loans has surpassed the peak loan value of $96.8 billion recorded in Q4 2021.

Total value of new housing loans record high in Q3 2025

• $98.8 billion value of total housing loans exceeds the highest recorded loan book of Q4 2021 by $2 billion.
  
  
• Investment loans of $40.1 billion last quarter is the highest recorded, exceeding the Q4 2021 value of $31.9 billion.
  
  
• Owner-occupied loans reached $58.8 billion last quarter, and continue rising at 12.0% year-on-year growth rate, slower than the investor loans growth rate of 20.4% year-on-year.

Prior to last quarter, the highest recorded value for new housing loans was $96.8 billion in the last quarter of 2021, as mortgage rates were low and the First Home Loan Deposit Scheme was introduced. In Q3 this year, that record was overtaken with a total housing loan value of $98.8 billion, $2 billion more than in 2021. This data is ahead of the First Home Guarantee Scheme (or Australian Government 5% Deposit Scheme) that began on 1st October, underlining a sustained trend of growth that began at the start of 2023. Investment loans made up roughly 41% percent of the value of total loans last quarter, and also exceeded their Q4 2021 record.

“Breaking the $98.8 billion record isn’t just in lending volumes, it reflects a shift in who’s borrowing and how much. Investment loans hitting $40.1 billion, and up 20% year-on-year shows a structural change in the housing market, not just a spike.” said Michael Johnson, Director at Agile Market Intelligence.

Investor loans now make up 41% of all housing loans, highest recorded

• There were 143,137 new housing loans recorded in the last quarter, equivalent to a 7.5% growth year-on-year.
  
  
• 41% (58,450) of the total housing loans were investor loans, the highest percentage recorded.

Investment properties have continued to grow in the past 5 years. In late 2020, investor loans only made up 23% of the total housing loans, but that number has ballooned to 41% in the quarter ending in September 2025. The number of loans has also been increasing steadily since the first quarter of 2023, but the growth trajectory of investor loans have overtaken owner-occupier loans in July this year. While the effect of the August rate cut isn’t apparent here for owner-occupiers, it remains to be seen whether October’s First Home Guarantee Scheme could rebalance the scales.

“With investors now capturing 41% of new lending, and growing much faster than owner-occupiers, homebuyers need policy support to remain competitive. The question is whether the First Home Guarantee Scheme can arrest this trend, or if we’ve entered an era where investment properties drive housing finance.” said Michael Johnson.

‍About the research

Statistics in this article were sourced from the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) quarterly lending indicators (September 2025 release) which covers housing finance data including the volume (dollar value) and the number of new loan commitments. Agile Market Intelligence has plotted the publicly available data to show the trend in owner-occupier vs investor loans over the past 5 years.

Agile Market Intelligence also conducts Broker Pulse, a monthly survey of residential and commercial mortgage lenders. It is a community-driven knowledge base of lender performance that offers transparency to the market by surfacing these collective insights from the broker community. This empowers brokers to make informed decisions and enables lenders to benchmark and improve performance.

Participating brokers receive access to a bird’s-eye view of the lender benchmarking data each month. To sign up or for more information visit www.brokerpulse.com.au.