'A careful balance': Westpac limits lending to houses in flood-prone areas

Westpac has decided to limit lending to houses that are in a flood plain or landslip risk area.

The bank says they don't plan on denying mortgage applications based on natural hazard risk, but they will restrict lending against the riskiest properties. 

Infometrics Principal Economist Brad Olsen told Ryan Bridge that this decision was a long time coming, and other banks will likely follow suit. 

"There's nothing to stop any of the other banks already starting to think about it, especially when everyone's looking at the data so much more"

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