The prospect of making double-digit capital gains while enjoying a healthy cash flow is proving irresistible for many investors, who are now piling back into the property market in greater numbers each month, new data shows.

In April, investors took out a total of $10.9 billion worth of mortgages to buy rental properties, a sharp rise of 5.6 per cent compared with the previous month. In the past 12 months, new lending to investors surged 36.1 per cent, faster than a year ago, according to the Australian Bureau of Statistics.