Australia Bank Valuations at Pre-Crisis High on Dividends

Australia’s largest banks are trading at the most expensive levels since before the global financial crisis on bets a mortgage lending recovery will allow them to increase dividend payouts.

Shares of the so-called Four Pillar lenders led by Commonwealth Bank of Australia have rallied more than 30 percent since November 2011 when the central bank began the first of eight interest-rate cuts to bolster economic growth. The lenders trade at an average of 2.1 times the net value of their assets, the highest since 2007 and a 75 percent premium over the MSCI World Bank Index, data compiled by Bloomberg show.