Australian housing market remains strong

The flow of housing finance in Australia continued to increase right up to the end of 2010, but the policy implications are limited, given the subsequent floods and Cyclone Yasi.

Value of loans to home-buyers approved in December was up 2.3 per cent in seasonally adjusted terms, while the value of loans to investors rose 3.0 per cent, figures from the Australian Bureau of Statistics released today showed.

The total value of loans approved rose 2.5 per cent. On a trend basis, the total value of lending was rising by 1.1 per cent per month, or 13 per cent on on an annualised basis, in December. The value of loans, to both homebuyers and investors, identifiable as applying to new or to-be-built homes fell 6.8 per cent, but that followed a jump of 9.3 per cent.

Source: Sydney Morning Herald