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 April which are largely in line with market expectations. The number of owner-occupier approvals were 1.4% lower over the month and 2.9% lower than in April 2017. Excluding refinancing, the number of approvals declined by 1.9% for the month and by 4.4% for the year.
In dollar terms, the total value of loan approvals, excluding refinancing, decreased by 0.1% for the month and by 4.6% on a year-on–year basis.