More than one-third of the cranes hovering over apartment building sites in Australian cities are in neighbourhoods banks have "blacklisted" as lending problem spots.
Global property and construction firm RLB's most recent crane index reveals 625 were operating in Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane, Adelaide, Perth and the Gold Coast during the September quarter.
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A new analysis reveals 239 of those, or 38.2 per cent, are within postcodes National Australia Bank and AMP have targeted for reduced or restricted lending, The Australian Financial Review reports.
The banks' measures include lower loan-to-value ratios, which mean buyers may end up having to pay more at settlement than they expected. That's raised concerns of settlement risk and prompted some realty groups to prepare to buy distressed apartment projects.
RLB compared the postcodes of individual crane locations with suburbs singled out by lenders for being riskier places to lend. The analysis shows most developments across Australia are outside areas banks are concerned about. But the figures vary significantly between cities.
In Brisbane, 56.8 per cent of cranes are in blacklisted postcodes. Not far behind are Perth, with 54 per cent, and Adelaide, with 53 per cent.
Melbourne has the lowest ratio of cranes in blacklisted areas, at 32 per cent, followed by Sydney at 32.1 per cent and the Gold Coast at 35.3 per cent.
RLB director of research and development Stephen Ballesty told the AFR the "level of activity and balancing of risk seems to suggest a responsible and sustainable market for the foreseeable future".
The analysis accounts for only NAB and AMP's postcodes of concern. Those two banks issued almost 15 per cent of all owner-occupier loans and 19 per cent of property investment loans in October, according to regulator APRA.
In Sydney, there were cranes in areas of concern stretching from Hurstville through to Auburn and Parramatta.
In Melbourne, they were spread south, south-east and north-east of the CBD.
There were 54 cranes in a blacklisted area of Brisbane running north-west through suburbs including Newstead, Fortitude Valley and West End.
And in Perth, cranes in trouble areas were concentrated in the CBD and city fringe.
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