RBA Says Risks Remain for Excessive Borrowing, House Prices

(Bloomberg) -- The Reserve Bank of Australia said it is important that lending standards are maintained as the risk remains from excessive borrowing in the country’s housing market.  

“In Australia, and some other countries, there have been large increases in housing prices and an acceleration in borrowing,” the central bank said in its semi-annual Financial Stability Review released Friday. “Vulnerabilities can increase if housing market strength turns to exuberance,” the bank said, while noting this week’s move by the Australian Prudential Regulation Authority in response to these risks. 

Australia’s banking regulator Wednesday raised the minimum interest-rate buffer that lenders need to account for when assessing home-loan applications. Property prices are surging Down Under in response to ultra-low interest rates, a phenomenon witnessed across the developed world following central bank policy easing in the wake of the pandemic.  

Among other issues in the review of the financial system, the central bank found:

• The number and severity of cyber attacks on financial institutions continue to rise

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