New housing finance falls slightly but first home buyers improve

The latest Housing Finance data from the ABS shows a fall in the number of dwelling commitments across all major sectors, with the value of total new financial commitments dropping slightly by 0.2% in the month.

“Importantly, as a share of total dwelling commitments, first home buyers ticked up slightly to a share of 17.6%,” Matthew Pollock, National Manager Economics and Housing said.

“Total dwelling commitments have fallen for 5 consecutive months and are around 1,500 lower than the same month last year,” he said.

“The number of new housing finance commitments fell in most states/territories in April: NSW (-0.8%), Victoria (-3.5%), Queensland (-1.5%), Western Australia (-1.5%), Tasmania (-2.7%), and the ACT (-1.2%),” Matthew Pollock said.

“The only two jurisdictions to record growth were South Australia with new housing commitments up by 4.4% and the Northern Territory, up by 6.3%,” he said.

“However, it is worth noting that the April building approvals data improved in April, supporting Master Builder’s view that the trough in the residential building and construction cycle is likely to be moderate and short lived,” Matthew Pollock said.