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ISCOVER
Jessica Darnbrough
A sluggish property market has not stopped one aggregator from setting a new record.
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Yesterday AFG announced it had processed the greatest number of home loans since March 2009.
The latest AFG Mortgage Index shows that the company processed $3,071 million of mortgages in August – 10 per cent higher more than this time last month and 7.4 per cent more than 12 months ago.
The Mortgage Index also showed that the proportion of new borrowers choosing fixed interest rates rose from 16.8 per cent in July to 19.9 per cent, as one in five new mortgage holders chooses to lock in rates.
“August is traditionally a strong month for mortgages as property buyers come out of hibernation. What’s different about this year is that borrowers have remained relatively active during the winter months – July was also a very strong month for us. There is a sense that conditions for property buyers are quite positive in terms of pricing and affordability. And a lot of existing borrowers are also taking advantage of heavy competition amongst banks on fixed rates,” AFG’s general manager Mark Hewitt said.
The level of mortgages processed for investors in New South Wales reached a very high level of 44.7 per cent of all new home loans for the state in August.
The next strongest state for investors was Queensland on 36.6 per cent followed by Victoria on 35.2 per cent, South Australia on 29.5 per cent and WA on 29.1 per cent.
The reverse trend was true for First Home Buyers. This group was most active in WA, where 20.7 per cent of new home loans were arranged for them.
