Today’s housing finance data for August, released by the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS), posted a massive rise in owner-occupied finance commitments, with investor finance commitments tapering only slightly.
According to the ABS, total owner-occupier finance commitments (excluding refinancings) surged by a seasonally adjusted 5.2% over the month to be up by 9.3% over the year (see below charts).
By comparison, the value of investor finance commitments fell by 0.4% in August, but were up by 12.0% over the year, with a flat trend (see next chart).
The share of total loans going to investors (excluding refinancings) also fell for the first time in nearly three years, falling to 51.3% in August from 51.5% last month:
Meanwhile, first home buyer (FHB) owner-occupied demand remained tepid in August at just 15.7% of total owner-occupied finance commitments after declining by 2.4% in August and rising by just 0.3% over the year (see below charts).
Meanwhile, the average loan size jumped 2.3% in August and was up 15.4% over the year, and is in a strong uptrend on a 3-month moving average basis:
Finally, the below chart shows the pick-up in owner-occupied housing demand, which seems to be offsetting the stalling of investor demand:
It looks like there’s still some life in the bubble!
