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 March and the figures indicate the number of owner-occupier approvals were 2.2% lower over the month and 3.5% lower than in March 2017. Excluding refinancing, the number of approvals declined by 1.7% for the month and by 3.5% in the year to the end of March.
In dollar terms, the total value of loan approvals excluding refinancing decreased by 4.8% for the month and by 6.0% on year-on-year basis.
Investor loan approvals dropped by 9%, a fall which ranks among the larger monthly falls on record. The drop comes after small but positive increases in January and February. On an annual basis, the investor segment in March was 16% lower than in March 2017.