The Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) has just released housing finance data for the month of July, which registered a seasonally-adjusted 2.4% increase in the number of owner-occupied finance commitments over the month. It was the seventh consecutive increase in owner-occupied commitments and beat analyst’s expectations of a 2.0% rise.
The number of owner-occupied housing finance commitments (excluding refinancings) registered a seasonally-adjusted 2.7% increase over the month of July to be tracking 9% above the five-year moving average level. The series is also up 17.0% on July 2012.
The average loan size fell 1.5% over the month and was down 0.5% over the year. The below charts show the series on a 3-month moving average basis (in order to smooth volatility). Note the slight improvement in average loan size since falling over the first quarter.
First home buyer (FHB) commitments improved, recording a 9% non-seasonally adjusted rise in July but represented just 14.7% of total owner-occupied commitments. They were also 9% lower than July 2012 (see below charts).
The ABS only provides the value of investor finance commitments. These were up by 3% in July, 26% over the year, and were at the highest level since June 2007 (see next chart).
Overall, this is another strong release, albeit clouded somewhat by the ongoing weakness in FHB mortgage demand and the lack of growth in average loan size.
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