Investors are cooling on the Australian property market, with home loans falling sharply as Treasurer Scott Morrison encourages a crackdown on investor loans.

But in a sign that more room is not being made for first home buyers, the proportion of total loans to those at the centre of the Turnbull government's housing affordability package also fell in February.

The figures, released by the Australian Bureau of Statistics on Monday, show that while the total value of investment housing commitments rose by $92 million in February, the seasonally adjusted total value fell 5.9 per cent.

The big four banks look to have pre-empted the latest warning from the Australian Prudential Regulation Authority to tighten their loans to investors.

The February figures predate Mr Morrison's concerns about a "sharp increase in the level of investor credit", amid revelations that foreign buyers were spending $8 billion a year on new homes in NSW and Victoria, locking out owner-occupiers and first home buyers. Loans to first home buyers as a proportion of total lending fell 0.1 per cent in February.

In January, investor loans passed 50 per cent of all loans for the first time since 2015 after strong action by APRA targeted at potential landlords and negative gearers waned.

The 50 per cent peak pushed the authority to write to all banks in March stating it expected them to tighten lending practices on interest-only and investor loans.

"Our objective with these new measures is to ensure lenders are recognising the heightened risk in the lending environment, and that their lending standards and practices appropriately respond to these conditions," said APRA chairman Wayne Byres.

JPMorgan economist Tom Kennedy said he now expected a further pullback on investor loans would have a cooling effect on the market.

"Given the extent to which housing transaction volumes have been tethered to investor lending flows, further contractions in the latter should take some of the oxygen out of housing activity," he said.

On Monday, Mr Morrison continued to float housing affordability ideas before the May budget, ruling out changes to negative gearing but indicating policies to minimise empty houses were being discussed.

He said encouraging elderly Australians to downsize their homes was a "reasonable issue to address", while allowing first home buyers to raid their superannuation to fund a deposit, and further tightening regulations on foreign investors were also being deliberated.

"People owning their own home is a good thing for the economy, and we need to do as much as we can to achieve this," he said.

The government has also not ruled out making changes to the capital gains tax concession.

New research by the left-leaning Australia Institute to be released on Tuesday shows seats held by the Treasurer, Prime Minister and Assistant Treasurer gain the most benefit from the capital gains tax discount.

Those that get the least benefit from the CGT discount are Nationals electorates. The average Nationals electorate gets $4000 a taxpayer while Liberal Party electorates on average get 2½ times that, averaging $10,000 a taxpayer.

According to the Australia Institute, Mr Turnbull and Mr Morrison's electorates get more than $30,000 a taxpayer.

"This tax break is being enjoyed by the wealthiest, and at increasing rates," said the institute's senior economist, Matt Grudnoff. "Far less benefit flows to those living in rural and outer suburban areas.

Further housing figures from CoreLogic-Moody's Analytics Australian Home Value Index Forecast released on Monday predicted detached-housing prices would rise a further 5.6 per cent this year.

"[But] regulatory tightening will encourage a slowdown in market activity this year and next," the ratings agency found.

CoreLogic-Moody's predicted prices would slide in 2018 and would not rise again until 2021.

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