The Queensland Department of Environment and Resource Management (DERM) has released data on housing transfers and mortgage lodgements for the month of January.
According to DERM, the number of housing transfers and mortgage lodgements rose by 5.2% and 19.3% respectively in January 2013. However, on a year-on-year basis, housing transfers rose by 3.6%, whereas mortgage lodgements fell by -0.8% (see next chart).
The below chart shows the same transfers and mortgage lodgements data on a rolling annual basis, which removes the month-to-month volatility:
You can see that Queensland transfers and mortgage lodgements have been in an up-trend since late-2011. However, they still remain depressed, tracking -26% (transfers) and -23% (mortgages) respectively below the 13-year monthly average in January.
On a positive note, there does not yet appear to be any ill effects from the mid-October change to the First Home Buyers’ (FHB) Grant, which saw the Grant removed from pre-existing dwellings and shifted to new dwellings only. There is the risk that the removal of the Grant on pre-existing dwellings – which comprises the majority of FHB transactions in Queensland – would cause FHB demand to slump.
