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 July and they were higher than the consensus expectation. Total approvals in July increased by 0.4%, which is more than the expected -0.1% figure and up from June’s revised figure of -0.8%. However, on an annual basis, the growth rate slowed even further, from a revised figure of -4.5% in June to -6.2% in July. When refinancing approvals are removed, approvals fell by 0.8% over the month and by 9.6% over the year.
In dollar terms, total loan approvals excluding refinancing fell by 1.3% for the month, a slightly greater fall than in June when approvals fell by 1.1% after revisions. On a year-on-year basis, total approvals excluding refinancing fell by 9.0%.
Westpac senior economist Matt Hassan said, “Overall, the finance data is consistent with the continued slowing in market conditions evident in auction markets and prices.”