Sydney property investor lunatics overrun the asylum

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By Leith van Onselen

Sydney’s speculator frenzy has reached truly epic proportions, with today’s Lending Finance data for March, released by the ABS, once again obliterating all records, with both the value and proportion of mortgages going to New South Wales investors surging to another all time high.

As shown below, the value of investor loans in New South Wales (read Sydney) continues to rocket, with Victoria (read Melbourne) – the second hottest market – also experiencing strong growth:

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According to the ABS, investor finance commitments in New South Wales in March were 37.2% higher than March 2014. New South Wales investor loans were also up by 30.7% in rolling annual terms in the year to March 2015, well above the national average increase of 22.2%.

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As at March 2015, investors accounted for an astonishing 58.3% of total housing finance commitments (excluding refinancings) in New South Wales (Sydney) – a new record. Victoria’s (read Melbourne’s) share of investor mortgages also hit a record high 48.3% in March:

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Putting the two charts together for New South Wales (Sydney) yields the following madness:

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You are rubbish, APRA.

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About the author
Leith van Onselen is Chief Economist at the MB Fund and MB Super. He is also a co-founder of MacroBusiness. Leith has previously worked at the Australian Treasury, Victorian Treasury and Goldman Sachs.