Investors continue to step out of the housing finance market, accounting for 42.4% of total loans in September 2018. Compared to the 49.2% record in January 2017, the decline in the role of investors has been little short of remarkable.
No doubt, the step-down is warming the heart of the nation’s regulators who in 2017 warned lenders and borrowers alike of the folly of continuing the lending practices that had seen investors move to the top of the lending market.
The chart below shows the role of investors, owner-occupiers and first-home buyers, net of refinancing.
To go straight to the dashboard and take a closer look at the data, click here.
Lending data for new homes shows reasonably uniform softness in September 2018, compared to the prior month, but are also uniformly higher than a year ago, as the chart below shows.
To go straight to the dashboard and take a closer look at the data, click here.
The value of owner-occupied construction was 1.2% higher over the year-ended September 2018, totalling AUD23.305 billion. However, this measure of future dwelling approvals and construction activity softened markedly in September, falling 6.9% compared with August.
Purchases of new dwellings by owner-occupiers were 5.9% higher compared to the prior year, at AUD14.148 billion, but were 4.4% lower than the prior month.
Turning to investors, their role in construction of new dwellings was 1.7% higher than a year earlier at AUD13.039 billion. However, the overall month-on-month softness flowed through to a decline of 4.1% compared to August.
