First home buyers near 8-year high as housing recovery strengthens again

“The First Home Buyer share of the home loan market has increased to its highest since early 2012 while investor lending has risen for the second consecutive month,” Master Builders Australia’s Chief Economist Shane Garrett said.

“ABS figures published this morning how that First Home Buyers accounted for 30.1% of owner occupier home loans during August 2019, the largest share since January 2012,” Shane Garrett said.

“The substantial increase in the value of lending to housing investors during August is particularly encouraging. This segment of the market has lost the most ground over recent years. The robust 5.7% increase during August means that investor lending here is at its most elevated since November of last year,” he said.

“The level of activity in the housing market is still well short of where it was a few years ago but we do appear to be moving in the right direction now,” Shane Garrett said.

“Confidence is the most crucial ingredient in any housing market and today’s figures, along with recent house price data, provide strong evidence that it is returning. With domestic demand in the economy so weak, government needs to take full advantage of the good news starting to come from our housing market and play its part in ensuring that the improving sentiment spreads to other areas of the economy,” he said.

“This can best be done by getting more economic activity happening on the ground through an accelerated roll out of infrastructure projects. This requires much better collaboration across all levels of government,” Shane Garrett said.

During August 2019, there was a 5.2% increase in the number of loans to First Home Buyers, bringing their share of the owner occupier market to 30.1%. The number of loans to households for new home construction rose by 0.3% with 2.7% increase in loans for the purchase of newly-built dwellings. The value of lending to housing investors rose by 5.7% during August.