The value of loans for owner-occupiers increased 1 per cent, against growth of 1.4 per cent last month.

The Australian Bureau of Statistics figures come as the Australian Prudential Regulation Authority and the corporate regulator ASIC announced last night they would take coordinated action to increase supervision of home lending.

But long-touted macroprudential limits on certain types of home loans would not proceed, APRA said.

Loans to owner-occupiers hit $16 billion, according to the figures, despite the number of dwelling commitments increasing by 0.3 per cent for the month after seasonal adjustment.

Economists had expected the number of housing finance commitments to rise 0.1 per cent in October.

Construction of dwellings and the purchase of established dwellings increased, while the purchase of new dwellings dropped 4 per cent.

While the number of dwelling commitments continues to trend downwards from an April peak, the value of dwelling commitments, that is the size of loans, has continued to increase, to nearly $30 billion for the month.

This morning ANZ bank released figures showing investor loans across the banking system are currently running at a quarterly annualised rate of 10.9 per cent.

But APRA has written to banks warning it would closely monitor any institution that recorded investment housing loan growth faster than 10 per cent per annum.

There were 51,720 approvals in the month, compared with 51,560 approvals in September.