Pursuits
Australian Lenders Are Clamping Down on Foreign Buying of Homes
- Westpac latest to tighten lending criteria for foreigners
- Foreign demand for the nation's housing is slipping, NAB says
Houses stand in Sydney, Australia, on Wednesday, Feb. 17, 2016. Australia's opposition Labor Party is proposing scaling back tax breaks for landlords that have helped fuel a 50 percent increase in property prices in capital cities since 2008.
Photographer: Brendon Thorne/BloombergThis article is for subscribers only.
Australian lenders are clamping down on home loans to foreigners as concerns about the health of the nation’s housing market mount.
Westpac Banking Corp. will no longer lend to offshore customers who aren’t citizens or who don’t hold appropriate residency visas, it said in an e-mail Wednesday. It follows Commonwealth Bank of Australia, National Australia Bank Ltd. and Australia & New Zealand Banking Group Ltd., which have tightened funding to overseas customers.