This article is from the Australian Property Journal archive
THE inertia of a strong March largely carried housing finance levels through April, according to the latest Australian Bureau of Statistics data.
The total number of loans to owner occupiers eased slightly by 0.7% in April, in seasonally adjusted terms.
Whilst loans for established dwellings fell marginally, by 0.9%, loans for new dwellings remained stable.
BIS Shrapnel associate director Dr Kim Hawtrey said they were encouraged by the continued strength in demand for loans in April, coming straight after March’s solid rise.
“The April result continues to show that borrowers are favouring new dwellings over established.
“The demand for loan financing for new dwellings (new construction and purchase of newly erected dwellings) has been on the rise over the last 12 months and is up by 50% on last year in Western Australia and New South Wales,” he added.
Dr Hawtrey said first homebuyers were one borrower type that had shown reluctance to enter the property market since the beginning of the year, yet even the decline for this group seemed to be levelling out.
“The Reserve bank cut rates by 25 basis points in May, so we expect that we will see a further lift in next month’s housing finance release.
“We expect momentum to continue building and a more rigorous improvement in housing demand to emerge later in the year,” he continued.
April’s figures might yet fuel speculation that the Reserve Bank of Australia will further cut the cash rate in 2013.
The ABS found that investment housing and owner occupied housing commitments, seasonally adjusted, rose only marginally in April, by 1.1% and 0.8% respectively.
Growth in owner occupied dwellings financed was led by South Australia (up by 7.6%), followed by Western Australia (3.0%), New South Wales (1.5%) Queensland (1.3%) and Tasmania (0.7%). Falls were recorded in Victoria (4.4%), the ACT (2.5%) and Northern Territory (1.0%).
Levels of construction of dwellings and the purchases of new dwellings experienced negligible growth in April.
Property Review
