Lenders' appetite for risky home loans will continue to wane in 2016, forcing borrowers to stump out bigger deposits for their property purchases.

That is the view of Genworth Mortgage Insurance Australia's new boss, Georgette Nicholas, who said the company recorded a significant drop in high loan-to-value ratio (LVR) loans during the first three months of the year.

Georgette Nicholas, chief executive of Genworth, expects house prices to "moderate", as a result of the regulator's crackdown on interest-only lending, and the recent rate hikes. Credit:Louise Kennerley

Ms Nicholas, who heads Australia's biggest lenders' mortgage insurer, said about 17 per cent of the group's new business covered loans from buyers with a 90 per cent LVR – that is, they borrowed more than 90 per cent of their properties' value. It is a significant drop from 29 per cent during the first three months of 2015.

"What you're going to see is lenders really thinking about where they're writing business, how they're responding to [regulatory changes]," Ms Nicholas said.