New home lending grinds higher down under

Leding was almost back to the levels of October last year, commented the Housing Industry Association.

“Housing finance outcomes presented a mixed bag of results in the month of February 2013, but overall the changes have been in the right direction” said HIA Chief Economist, Dr Harley Dale. “We’re still not firmly on the path back to the healthy levels of new home lending which would be consistent with the strong residential construction recovery the economy and population requires.”

In February 2013 the total number of seasonally adjusted loans to owner occupiers for the construction and purchase of new homes increased by 21.8 per cent in the Australian Captial Territory, 14.9 per cent in Queensland and 7.0 per cent in New South Wales and the Northern Territory. The number of loans fell by 1.2 per cent in Victoria, 1.7 per cent in South Australia, 11.0 per cent in Western Australia, and 13.3 per cent in Tasmania.

Dale added: “In terms of owner occupiers, the aggregate number of loans for the construction and purchase of new homes increased by 1.2 per cent in the month of February 2013, while loans for established homes net of refinancing was up by 2.0 per cent. Looking at lending to investors, finance for established dwellings has been rising fairly consistently – the value of loans increased by 3.3 per cent over the three months to February 2013, for example. However, investor lending into new dwellings fell by 3.2 per cent in the February 2013 quarter, although the overall profile appears to have followed a path of improvement since mid-2012.”