Australian Property News
October marks an increase in home loans
Posted on Wednesday, December 10 2008 at 5:09 PM
Home lending in Australia has risen for the first time in nine months, according to the Housing Industry Association (HIA).
The total number of owner-occupier loans increased by 1.3 per cent in October to reach 48,229, the first rise since January.
HIA chief economist Harley Dale said the figures were encouraging, especially because the increase had occurred before further interest rate cuts in November and December.
He says the home lending market is still weak, with the number of loans still 24 per cent down on October last year.
“Nevertheless, amidst a constant barrage of negative updates on the economy we did get a rise, albeit a small one,” he says.
The only state in which home lending fell was New South Wales, which saw a 2.2 per cent decrease.
The Northern Territory saw the biggest increase with 18.7 per cent, followed by the Australian Capital Territory with 8.8 per cent; Western Australia had an increase of 5.1 per cent; Tasmania rose by 4.3 per cent;
Queensland had a 2.6 increase; Victoria had 2.1 per cent; and loans in South Australia increased by 1.9 per cent.
The number of loans for construction or purchase or new dwellings fell by 0.6 per cent in October, with construction down by 2 per cent and the new purchase figure up by 3.5 per cent.
“As we receive further updates on the December 2008 quarter and March 2009 quarter it will be important to see clear evidence of an improvement in leading housing indicators like housing finance, new home sales, and building approvals,” Dale says.
“We saw a modest rise in two out of three of these in the month of October, but it is very early days.”
According to Dale there was an increase in the number of first homebuyer loans in October but over the three months to October, loans were still 20 per cent lower than over the three months to October last year.
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