First home buyers up while investor’s pump the brakes

The latest housing finance data, released by the Australia Bureau of Statistics (ABS) earlier today shows the value of home loan approvals for fell by 3.6 per cent in September.

Matthew Pollock, National Manager Housing at Master Builders Australia said that, “Despite this, the data shows purchases of new houses has bucked the trend, recording growth of 1.8 per cent in the month.”

“A number of states have recently upped the incentives for people looking to enter the housing market for the first time, particularly into new housing. This is now beginning to show up in the housing finance data, with first homebuyer’s share of total commitments growing to 17.4 per cent – the highest share since November 2012,” he said.

The value of investor loans feel by 6.2 per cent in September, equivalent to a fall of around $770 million in loan commitments. Over the year, investor loans have fallen in 7 out of the last 12 months and are down by around $330 million on the same months last year.

“Recent constraints on domestic and international investor activity are having the desired effect. But there is a growing concern that given the market is cooling – construction activity and prices have moderated in recent months – that these constraints may exacerbate the slowdown,” Matthew Pollock said.