Lending from the banks into the housing market will pick- up after an easing of regulations across the sector. Frydenberg says regulations put in place by the Australian Prudential Regulation Authority and recently lifted - are “building resilience” for the future.

He says that while the rate of growth in home lending has fallen, the recent move by APRA to wind back its intervention will soon be evident. “Now that APRA has lifted some of its restrictions on investor lending, we should see a pick-up,” he says.

Frydenberg says targeted and short-term ¬interventions from APRA in the housing market has, according to the RBA, ‘increased the resilience of the economy to future shocks’. “However, now these interventions have been wound back, it is vitally important that the banks continue to provide affordable and timely access to credit,” he says.

“Keeping open their loan books to borrowers will help maintain the strength of the Australian economy.” According to the RBA figures, lending to owner- occupiers grew 6.8% to an outstanding debt total of $1.2 trillion. However, this is the lowest annual rate of growth since the end of 2015.