Bank lending for housing will fall further after comprehensive credit reporting: Robert Gottliebsen

Banks will start sharing lending data ahead of comprehensive credit reporting from next July covering the entire financial system.

"Suddenly banks will discover when they have been hoodwinked by borrowers using multiple banks," The Australian columnist Robert Gottliebsen warns.

"The bottom line is that bank lending for housing will fall further and so will prices in vulnerable areas."

His recent column noted the credit squeeze is already reducing dwelling prices and there is more to come.

The tough times in many areas of real estate (but not all) will continue until the squeeze is reversed, he wrote.

"At this stage there is no crash on the horizon.

"But those dwelling price falls will in time reduce consumer confidence and the price of shares in companies affected by consumer confidence."

Gottliebsen noted that Westpac was the most aggressive of lenders to housing investors.

He noted the fastest-growing area of loans was 'interest only' and Westpac led the pack.

"There has been a huge crackdown and these loans are being converted to interest-and-principal repayments."