This article is from the Australian Property Journal archive
DEMAND for home loans declined by 3.7% in January to be down by 4.1% over the year, the weakest result since October 2011, according to the Australian Bureau of Statistics.
The fall was broad based, with an ongoing sharp retracement of investors down 1.6% over the month and -14.8% year on year.
Furthermore owner occupiers demand fell 5.4% during the month, although it remains 7.3% higher than a year ago.
UBS senior economist George Tharenou said the slump of home loans points to further moderation in house price and credit growth.
“This softer data bears close watching to see if it persists in coming months, amid some renewed concerns in markets over domestic lending standards (which we argue have actually tightened), as well as a possible slowdown of foreign investment into Australian housing, which is increasingly a key support.
“Overall we still expect a housing moderation rather than a downturn,” Tharenou forecast.
Australian Property Journal
