The Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) has just released housing finance data for the month of January, which registered no seasonally-adjusted change in the number of owner-occupied finance commitments over the month:
The number of owner-occupied housing finance commitments excluding refinancings registered a seasonally-adjusted 0.5% increase over the month to be tracking 7% above the five-year moving average level. However, December’s figures were revised down by 2.5%, which flattered this month’s result. The number of commitments were also up 14.3% on January 2013 (see next chart).
The average loan size rose 0.2% over the month and was up 5.3% over the year. The below charts show the series on a 3-month moving average basis (in order to smooth volatility). Note the recent spike in average loan size after falling during the beginning of last year.
First home buyer (FHB) commitments fell by a non-seasonally adjusted 12.8% in January and represented just 13.2% of total owner-occupied commitments. They were also flat over the year (see below charts).
Finally, for the first time in months investor finance commitments moderated, falling by 3.3% (seasonally-adjusted) in January, although they were up 29% over the year (see next chart).
