Today’s housing finance data for February contained a sting in the tail for home builders, with mortgage demand for new housing retracing by 1.0% in February, giving back some of last month’s big rise (see below charts).
However, the news is much better when measured on a rolling annual basis, with the number of finance commitments for new homes and construction rising by 14.2% over the year (see next chart).
Looking at at the state-by-state breakdown, which is presented below on a rolling annual basis since it is not seasonally adjusted, shows that the lift new home finance continues to be driven by New South Wales and Western Australia, although Queensland and South Australia are in an uptrend as well (see next chart).
All of which augers well for a continued pick-up in new home construction.
