Mortgage applications filed and processed in Australia shot up dramatically in November, according to a mortgage broker, the Australian Finance Group (AFG) . AFG has registered an 18.4 per cent increase in mortgages processed in November worth an estimated $2.9 billion.

The AFG said on its Web site that investors had been spurred by the interest rate cut imposed by the central bank. Some financial pundits and analysts are again anticipating another rate cut on Tuesday's Reserve Bank meeting.

The data on mortgages published by the AFG on a monthly basis had indicated fixed rate loans fell to just 17.2 per cent, with stand variable loans taking a 63.1 per cent share. The average size of all mortgages rose to $396,000 from $395,000, a related report by Global Property Guide research said.

A subdued consumer spending and a lackadaisical economic growth had softened the growth of the real estate market in Australia this year, an Analysis of Australia Residential Property Market said.

It was only in October that Australia's local banks and other financial intermediaries gained more confidence in providing housing credit to borrowers as monthly and yearly increases were recorded, according to the Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA).

Housing credit increased by 0.4 per cent over October, following an increase of 0.5 per cent over September. Over the year to October, housing credit rose by 5.7 per cent, the latest financial aggregates report from the RBA has revealed.

Aussie bankers' new site

The banking industry in Australia, however, has taken a cautiously optimistic stance in its loan portfolio with a new Web site doingittough.info, designed to help property loan borrowers in distress.

Australian Bankers' Association chief Steve Munchenberg says the Web site is a way for property loan borrowers to communicate with their banks and figure out ways of obtaining some financial assistance if they can no longer service their loans.

Munchenberg notes that during dire financial difficulties, consumers have in the past cast aside the valuable option to contact their banks.

"In reality the bank has a bunch of programs in place to help people in those situations. We would rather find out if you're under pressure early to make sure we can all work through that, rather than have people hide that fact and then get into a state where it's much harder to pay it all back," Mr Munchenberg says.

The Real Estate Institute of Australia says a serious concern is that a large portion of household incomes among Australians are spend on mortgage payments.