Surging investor lending, which rose at its fastest pace in almost two decades, has pushed Australia’s booming residential market out of regulators’ comfort zone and made macroprudential controls more likely, economists said on Tuesday.

New data showing home loan commitments to investor buyers jumped 12.7 per cent from February, the fastest increase since July 2003, to a seasonally adjusted monthly total of $7.8 billion, were “enormous” numbers and challenged the picture of a market solely driven by owner-occupiers, JP Morgan economist Tom Kennedy said.