Veteran banking analyst Jon Mott has a way of breaking down complex problems into simple ideas. At the Financial Review Banking Summit in Sydney on Tuesday, he stopped the room dead when he nailed Australia’s housing affordability challenge.

The latest banking statistics suggest about 8 per cent of credit from Australian banks goes to owner-occupier households earnings less than $120,000, who account for about 60 per cent of society. Meanwhile, 9 per cent of credit goes to housing investors earning more than $500,000, who account for just 1 per cent of society.