ANZ's co-head of Australian economics, Felicity Emmett, said the tightening up in investor lending practices were likely to have a marginal softening impact on house price growth, including in the exuberant Sydney market. "This looks as though APRA's step-up in supervision is starting to have some effect," Ms Emmett said. "If that's successful, then that's going to give the RBA scope to keep rates lower." More tightening necessary However, Credit ratings agency Moody's still believes additional tightening of lending criteria and higher capital levels will be necessary to curb lending growth. Such action would be a positive for the strength of the banking sector by reducing its exposure to looming risk caused by "growing imbalances" in the housing market, it said. Statistics released by APRA on Tuesday show the value of new

"With investor approvals declining by more than the drop in owner-occupied approvals, perhaps signaling that APRA's announced macro-prudential action may be taking effect," Goldman Sachs analyst, Andrew Lyon said. Interest-only loans – a key concern for APRA – fell to 42.3 per cent of all approvals, down from 43 per cent in the previous quarter to the lowest level in a year. The share of loan approvals with loan-to-valuation ratios of 90 per cent or higher continued its downward trend, and is at its lowest level since December 2010. Owner-occupied lending rebounded slightly to 62.6 per cent of total residential lending approvals in the quarter, up from 62 per cent. Over the past week, the banks have introduced a range of measures to attempt to pull the growth rate of lending to property investors below a 10 per cent cap demanded by the Australian Prudential Regulation Authority.

These have included removing or reducing the discounts on new investment property loans, introducing an 80 per cent loan to valuation ratio cap on investment property loans, and changing investment property home loan calculators used by brokers. Credit positive initiatives applauded In its report on Tuesday, Moody's applauded these initiatives. "In our view, these initiatives are credit positive since they reduce the banks' exposure to a higher-risk loan segment,"Moody's vice president, Ilya Serov said. "In the absence of mitigating actions, the increasing proportion of investment and interest-only loans would, in our view, lead to a weakening of the bank portfolios' quality." However, Moody's said the housing market is currently characterised by "elevated and rising house prices, declining mortgage affordability, and record levels of household indebtedness".

"The growing imbalances in the Australian housing market pose a longer-term challenge to the Australian banks' credit profiles, over and above the immediate concerns around investment lending," the report said. Mr Serov said the banks could further curtail exposure to high loan to valuation loans and investment lending over the coming months. Combined with upward revisions to mortgage risk weights and capital increases as foreshadowed by APRA and the financial system inquiry, he said Moody's was comfortable with its stable outlook on the major banks'credit ratings. Moody's assessment comes as several analysts suggest the banks – which fell around 15 per cent in May – have been oversold. CLSA analyst Brian Johnson said rising regulatory capital intensity for the banks is manageable and high dividend payout ratios are sustainable. Even though the banks are trading on peak cycle price earnings ratios; "we think they will continue to trade expensively as structurally underweight international investors continue to chase their high dividend yields," he said, adding the banks "will emerge in great shape" after they are recapitalised.