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 August and the figures indicate the number of owner-occupier approvals rose by 1.0% over the month and by 7.5% when compared to August 2016. Excluding refinancing, the number of approvals was the same as in July but 17.1% higher than a year ago. These figures were largely in line with market expectations.
In dollar terms, owner-occupier loan approvals increased by 0.9% in August, an increase on July’s revised figure of +0.9% and 8.9% higher than in August 2016. Investor loans grew by 4.3%, a sharp turnaround from July’s 3.7% contraction and 6.5% higher than 12 months ago.