Australian Mortgage Market: In Australia, non-conforming loans are provided by some specialist lenders who do not take deposits, with Pepper, Bluestone and Liberty Financial representing the three quarters of the market. This is in contrast to the United States, where a wide range of financial institutions can make subprime loans. Non-conforming loans in Australia represented only about 1% of outstanding loans in 2007, compared to the 13% share in the United States. Non-conforming loans issued in Australia have also been very low in recent years, at around 1-2%, significantly lower than the 21% share of subprime loans in the United States in 2006 (Debelle, 2008). The interest rate charged on non-conforming loans in Australia is also lower than that on subprime debt in the United States. All of the above points reflect the differences in the characteristics of non-conforming loans in Australia compared to subprime loans in the United States: • Australian non-conforming debts are less risky than their equivalents in the United States On average, newly approved non-conforming loans have only an LTV ratio of approximately 75%, well below the average 85% LTV ratio of U.S. subprime mortgages