Our $1 trillion home lending debt

The amount of money Australia’s homeowners owe their banks rose above $1 trillion for the first time in April.

The latest rise in the value of outstanding home loans since March was only a modest 0.5 percent, but the annual growth rate sits at a five-year high of 7.4 percent.

The total of owner-occupier housing debt held by Australian lenders rose to $1.005 trillion in April from $998.8 billion in March.

The seasonally adjusted figures from the Reserve Bank of Australia showed the value of homeowner debt is now eight times where it was two decades ago, at $124 billion in January 1995.

It doubled to $248 billion in 2001, then to just under $500 billion by 2006.

While home loans are still growing strongly, the latest data suggests lending to housing investors has slowed.

Investor housing loans totalled $551 million in April, a rise of 0.3 percent, the RBA figures showed.

The last time a smaller increase in investor loans was recorded was in May 2009.

Annual growth in investor housing loans has now slowed to 6.5 percent, from 10.9 percent a year ago.