Non-major resumes SMSF lending

AMP Bank will accept investor property loan applications to SMSFs effective 14 December following a temporary withdrawal from the market in response to regulatory growth guidelines.

The return to SMSF lending fulfils the bank’s commitment to return to the market in 2015 and follows its recommencement of non-SMSF investor property lending on 16 November.

Speaking to Mortgage Business’s sister publication SMSF Adviser, Thrive Investment Finance owner Samantha Bright said the SMSF lending landscape has lost its competitiveness since APRA announced its curbs on investor lending.

“It’s not that the banks don’t want to lend; they’re being forced not to lend,” Ms Bright said.

“Before these changes [from APRA], we actually had more players coming into the market and looking at these products. I actually had some small lenders asking me to look at the products they were planning to release.”

Ms Bright said that while it is beneficial that the changes are helping to limit lending to the most suitable SMSF borrowers, the smaller number of lenders has meant longer turnaround times and reduced competition.

“It’s gone from having a pool of lenders to barely a puddle,” she said.

[Related: AMP delivers solid mortgage growth, increases margin]