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-occupier 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 December which indicate the number of owner-occupier approvals excluding refinancing fell by 3.4% over the month. While the figures show a fall over the month, compared to a year ago, December’s total approvals represent an increase of 2.1%. In November, the comparable figures were +1.5% for the month and +8.5% over the previous 12 months.
In dollar terms, total loan approvals (excluding refinancing) fell by 2.5% for the month and 2.2% when compared to total loan approvals for December 2016. Both figures are lower than November’s comparable growth rates of +1.7% and +1.6% (after revisions).
Owner-occupier loan approvals (excluding refinancing) fell by 2.3% for the month, down from November’s revised figure of +2.3%. In annual terms, the value of owner-occupier approvals rose by 5.6%, which is also lower than November’s revised annual rate of 11.5%.