Teachers Mutual Bank has failed to get its investor mortgage sales under the ten per cent annual growth limit set by the Australian Prudential Regulation Authority and has had to take the drastic step of stopping all mortgage finance for property investors.Teachers announced yesterday that it was "temporarily withdrawing from new investment home lending."Teachers chief executive Steve James said the bank had put the brakes on last year, with higher interest rates, a lower maximum loan-to-valuation ratio and tighter serviceability criteria for investors.The maximum LVR for investors was cut to 85 per cent and then to 70 per cent and a $1000 a month income buffer was added to serviceability requirements.However, the bank's investor loan book continued to grow strongly. According to APRA data, Teachers' total mortgage book grew by 18.1 per cent over the 12 months to March and its investment loan book grew by 29.6 per cent over the same period.That rate of growth has slowed in recent times, with the bank's investor mortgage balance growing by one per cent over the three months to March - an annualised rate of four per cent.James said he did not expect the freeze on new investor lending to last long. "We will assess it week to week," he said.AMP stopped selling mortgages to investors for a few months last year and at least one other lender is said to have done the same.Teachers also adjusted its owner-occupier fixed mortgage rates yesterday. It is offering a three-year rate of 3.74 per cent, a four-year rate of 3.99 per cent and a five-year rate of 3.99 per cent.