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The number of new investor loan commitments (seasonally adjusted) totalled 60,445 in Q4 2025, out of 149,434 total commitments recorded by the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS).
This is up 5.5 per cent from the September quarter 2025 and 23.6 per cent from the same quarter the previous year.
In terms of the value of new loan commitments, investors made up $43 billion of the $108.3 billion recorded by the ABS. This is up 7.9 per cent from the September 2025 quarter and 31.8 per cent from the same quarter last year.
Investor activity initially surged through 2021, peaking at 52,458 commitments in December 2021 (seasonally adjusted), before easing through 2022 and early 2023 to a trough of 36,819 in March 2023, according to ABS data.
Since then, volumes have steadily recovered. Investor lending reached 60,445 in December 2025 – the highest seasonally adjusted reading in the series.
Investor lending values have followed a similar trajectory. After a lull in March 2023, seasonally adjusted values climbed from $22.891 billion in June 2023 to $39.822 billion in September 2025, reaching $42.985 billion in December 2025, the highest reading in the series.
‘Year of the investor’
Similarly, aggregator Mortgage Choice found that the value of loans to owner-occupiers and investors were both up over the December quarter, with investment loan growth outpacing loans to owner-occupiers.
According to Mortgage Choice home loan submission data, investor borrowing increased 31.4 per cent year-on-year, compared to a 22 per cent increase in owner-occupier borrowing over the same period.
Mortgage Choice CEO Anthony Waldron said, “Mortgage Choice loan submission data throughout 2025 suggested that 2025 was shaping up to be the year of the investor, and the December quarter data cemented that. Year-on-year, the value of investment loans was up 31.4 per cent over the December quarter, outpacing the value of owner-occupied loans for a consecutive quarter.
“Amid tight rental market conditions and rapid rent growth, we continue to see strong demand for investment loans, particularly in Western Australia and Queensland, where values for investment loans were up nearly 40 per cent year-on-year.”
Regional growth all round
Average investor loan sizes have trended higher across all states and territories since late 2020, with December 2025 marking the highest reading in the series for Australia and most jurisdictions.
Nationally, the average investor loan size increased from $512,000 in December 2020 to $717,000 in December 2025. After rising through 2021 and early 2022, national averages eased slightly in the second half of 2022 before resuming an upward trajectory from 2023 onward.
NSW consistently recorded the largest average loan sizes for investors, rising from $639,000 in December 2020 to $873,000 by December 2025. Victoria increased from $492,000 to $618,000 over the same period.
Queensland’s average investor loan size climbed steadily from $419,000 in December 2020 to $700,000 in December 2025. South Australia rose from $364,000 to $622,000, while Western Australia increased from $403,000 to $644,000.
Tasmania recorded growth from $335,000 to $493,000. The Northern Territory moved from $358,000 in December 2020 to $460,000 in December 2025, with more noticeable quarterly variation. The ACT increased from $503,000 to $679,000 across the period.
[Related: Investor refinance rates hit record highs]