Australian Banks Are Already Tightening Housing Credit After the Budget

The housing market is now facing a credit shift

The budget was supposed to hit investors through tax changes. Instead, banks are already hitting them through borrowing power. That shift matters more than the politics.

Within days of the government moving on negative gearing and capital gains concessions, lenders and brokers started recalculating investor serviceability under harsher assumptions. The market is quickly realising this is not just a future tax issue sitting in Canberra. It is an immediate credit tightening cycle happening inside mortgage departments right now.

In practice, the real power in property. . .