Australian Mortgage Market: In Australia, non-conforming loans are provided by a few specialist lenders who do not accept deposits, with Pepper, Bluestone and Liberty Financial representing the three quarters of the market. . This contrasts with the United States where a wide range of financial institutions can issue subprime loans. Non-conforming loans in Australia made up only about 1 percent of outstanding loans in 2007, compared to 13 percent in the United States. Nonconforming loans issued in Australia have also been very low in recent years, at around 1 to 2 percent, significantly lower than the 21 percent 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 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 nonconforming loans only have an LTV ratio of around 75%, much lower than the average LTV ratio of 85% for U.S. subprimes.