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Lending to households building or purchasing new homes saw an improvement in August, according to the Housing Industry Association.
Fresh figures released by the Australian Bureau of Statistics on Monday show that the number of loans for construction increased by 3.7 per cent in August. Loans to owner-occupiers purchasing homes (excluding refinancing) decreased slightly by 1.3 per cent on July’s results.
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Commenting on these figures, Housing Industry Association economist Geordan Murray said: “It is pleasing to see lending in the new home market holding up in an environment where we are seeing the number of loans to home buyers easing across the housing market more broadly.”
“The number of loans to those purchasing newly built homes has been steadily trending higher,” he added.
“It is in this segment of housing finance that we will see evidence of the lending activity related to the boom in apartment building, but the figures are yet to fully reflect the record level of construction activity,” he added.
Mr Murray also suggested that as the large number of apartments purchased in projects that are currently under construction reach completion over the next year, he anticipates that the number of loans in this segment of the market will “increase quite significantly”, particularly in NSW and Victoria.
[Related: Boost in new home lending]
