The prudential regulator has reminded Parliament that its primary responsibility is financial stability, not soaring house prices, and it is not seeing activity right now that would compel it to intervene.
Soaring home prices, including 2.1 per cent growth in February, have increased pressure on regulators to think about applying the brakes. New Zealand’s prudential regulator has already intervened twice this year.
Australian Prudential Regulation Authority chairman Wayne Byres said it was watching lending standards but had seen nothing that warranted immediate action.
“It’s not our job to solve house prices and it’s not our job to solve house pricing affordability. The extent to which there is dynamic emerging of increased risk taking by the community … at this stage it’s not evident,” Mr Byres told a federal parliamentary committee on Monday.