30/08/2026
A widely shared analysis this week used Commonwealth Bank lending data to argue that property investing has become “statistically a game for the wealthy.”
The headline number: 84% of new investor mortgages in 2026 are going to households earning more than $200,000 a year, roughly double the current median household income.
At face value, that’s a striking figure. It’s also a snapshot of one thing: who can get a new investor loan approved right now. It’s a considerable distance from a picture of who owns investment property in Australia.
The underlying figures, drawn from CBA’s own reporting, break down new investor lending in 2026 as follows: under 4% goes to households earning below $125,000, around 12% to households between $125,000 and $200,000, 56% to households between $200,000 and $500,000, and 28% to households earning more than $500,000.
Compared with 2016, that does look like a shift, at first glance. Back then, 6% of investor loans went to households earning $75,000 or less, against a median of around $74,000. In 2026, only 2% of loans go to households earning $100,000 or less, against a median closer to $105,000.
But the same article includes a second comparison that tells a different story...
Read the full article: https://investorproperty.com.au/insights/news/new-investor-loans-skew-wealthy-new-investor-loans-arent-the-whole-story/