The Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) collects data on housing finance commitments made by significant lenders and their figures include secured (mortgage) finance commitments for the construction or purchase of owner-occupied dwellings and investment properties. It has some overlap with the RBA’s monthly private sector credit statistics which also includes investor lending and owner-occupier lending.
The ABS has released housing finance figures for January and the figures indicate the number of owner-occupier approvals were 1.1% lower over the month and 1.9% lower than January 2017. Excluding refinancing, the number of approvals declined by 1.8% for the month but they increased by just +0.2% on a yearly basis.
In dollar terms, owner-occupier loan approvals excluding refinancing increased by 0.3% in January, a sharp turn-around from December’s -2.5% and 6.7% higher than in January 2017. Investor loans grew by 1.1%, which is also a marked reversal of December’s 2.9% fall but they are still 12.1% less than investor loans from the previous January. The total value of loan approvals (ex-refi) increased by 0.7% for the month but it was -2.6% on a year-on-year basis.
Kristina Clifton, a senior economist at CBA said property investors had been a major part of January’s increase. “The rise this month was driven by investors, with the value of loans to owner-occupiers posting a small fall due to a drop in loans to first home buyers. Lending to investors has cooled but remains at a high level despite higher interest rates for investors, particularly those with interest only loans.”