Figures from the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) show that new home lending remains steady while price growth has strengthened across Australia’s cities. Source: Timberbiz
“During December 2013, the number of owner occupier loans for new dwelling construction increased by 0.4%, while loans to owner occupiers for the purchase of new dwellings declined by 1.9% during the month,” said HIA senior economist, Shane Garrett.
“However, in the final quarter of 2013, total new home lending to owner occupiers rose by 2.1% and was 14.6% higher than a year earlier. This is a pretty strong result.
“Today’s data caps off a strong year for new home lending and signal that activity on the ground will be strong during the early months of 2014.
According to the HIA in December the share of the owner occupier market accounted for by First Home Buyers reached its highest in four months.
“Today’s data also show that capital city dwelling prices increased by 3.4% in the final quarter of 2013 and were 9.3% higher than a year earlier,” said Garrett.
“Steady and sustainable price growth reinforces confidence in the market and healthy lending activity must be seen in this context.
“In order to maintain a healthy level of activity in the market, more will have to be done to deal with constraints around planning, land supply and infrastructure funding.
“Addressing these issues will do much to improve longer term housing affordability and will ensure that Australia achieves its full economic potential over coming years and decades.”
