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ISCOVER
Staff Reporter
New home lending remained relatively subdued in January, suggesting the Reserve Bank's spate of rate cuts last year are still failing to have an impact on home buyers.
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According to the latest data from the Australian Bureau of Statistics, the aggregate number of loans to owner occupiers for the construction and purchase of new homes rose by only 0.6 per cent in the month of January 2013.
“It would have been a touch optimistic to expect the interest rate cuts late in 2012 to have an immediate impact, but we expect the effects of this to emerge over the coming months,” Housing Industry Association economist Geordan Murray said.
“While we didn’t see a material improvement in number of loans for new homes in January 2013, activity over the month was still 9.3 per cent higher than we saw in January 2012. From this perspective, we have started the year in a better position than we did in 2012.
“If we consider the total value of lending for housing, there was an increase of 2.4 per cent during the month of January 2013. After contracting in the months of November and December 2012, it is pleasing to see lending regain some of the lost ground.”
Mr Murray said the improvement in January was primarily driven by improved lending activity for established homes, which was evident for both owner occupiers and investors.
“Investors also showed a renewed appetite for new homes after sitting on the sideline for the last two months,” he said.
In terms of the value of lending to owner occupiers, lending for the construction and purchase of new homes declined by 1.1 per cent in January 2013 while lending for the purchase of established homes increased by 2.3 per cent.
