Via a panicky Domainfax and following this week’s WBC tightening:
Tom Crowley, National Australia Bank’s acting general manager of home lending, said the bank was collecting “granular” details of a customer’s expenses, and it was keen to work with regulators and other lenders to improve their assessments of borrowers’ finances.
…Managing director of mortgage broker Homeloanexperts.com.au, Otto Dargan, said that in the past two weeks, more banks were seeking greater detail about peoples’ expenses.
…The extra scrutiny had not necessarily reduced how much a customer could borrow, he said, but it had made the process of getting a home loan more complex.
Some analysts belive the trend will further put the brakes on housing credit growth, and Mr Dargan said anyone bidding on a property at an auction without pre-approval of their financing was taking an “enormous risk.”
If true, house price falls will steepen within three months.
