AFR: Developers & Dealers Forum 2015

Recent bank measures to tighten investment lending would bring stability to the housing market and ensure it didn’t overheat, Mirvac boss Susan Lloyd-Hurwitz said.

Ms Lloyd-Hurwitz declined to comment on how the measures – taken by lenders including Westpac, ANZ, CBA and NAB, as well as ING and AMP – would affect Mirvac, which sold 86 per cent of its product to local buyers and made 45 per cent of sales to investors.

The moves were welcome, she said at the Pitcher Partners and MaxCap-sponsored Developers and Dealers Forum 2015 on Thursday.

She was part of a panel that included economist Saul Eslake, architect and Elenberg Fraser director Callum Fraser and Metro Property Development managing director Luke Hartman.

“We’re for anything that creates financial stability,” Ms Lloyd-Hurwitz said.

“It’s in nobody’s interest to have a runaway market. So anything that creates stability and creates a stronger, longer market we will all support; whether that’s making sure FIRB (Foreign Investment Review Board) rules [on purchases of dwellings by foreign citizens] are applied correctly, whether that’s making sure we don’t have speculation in the investor market.”

This is a sample of an article appearing on the Australian Financial Review website.