Abundance of housing credit available: CBA Matt Comyn

There was "an abundance of housing credit available,” the Commonwealth Bank’s CEO Matt Comyn said yesterday.

The CEO suggested the recent cuts by the Reserve Bank were contributing to a turnaround in the housing market.

“House prices are now rising in Sydney and Melbourne after having fallen for 18 months, and there are encouraging signs that the market has stabilised,” he said.

“While regulatory guidance has increased in recent years for home lending, these changes have improved lending standards across the industry and have further improved the resilience of the financial system.”

According to the CEO, CBA is “very clear” on the steps that must be taken to continue to deliver “in the current economic, regulatory and competitive environment.”

“Our results show the underlying strength of our core business, with home and business lending both up 4 percent,” he said.

The difference in mortgage pricing for new and existing customers is "substantially less" than the figure claimed by the ACCC, Comyn said.

The competition regulator identified a gap of 32 basis points in interest rates between the front and back books of the major banks, But he said it was significantly lower than 30 basis points at CBA.