Australian Property News

Housing commitments increase

Posted on Wednesday, December 08 2010 at 4:34 PM

Figures released by the Australian Bureau of Statistics indicate finance commitments for homes could be on the rise. In the month of October, there was a small increase by 0.3 per cent, however investment housing commitments fell 0.8 per cent.

In seasonally adjusted terms, the total value of dwelling finance commitments excluding alterations and additions rose 2.2 per cent. (Seasonal adjustment allows for and removes the regular, reoccurring influences that can distort the short-term view of what’s happening, for example, retail spending at Christmas.)

The number of commitments for owner-occupied housing finance rose 0.9 per cent and the number of commitments for the purchase of established dwellings rose 1.1 per cent.

In original (raw data) terms, the number of first homebuyer commitments as a percentage of total owner-occupied housing finance commitments fell from 15.9 per cent in September to 15.4 per cent in October.