Today’s housing finance data for September, released by the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS), posted a small rise in owner-occupied finance commitments, with investor finance commitments falling sharply.
According to the ABS, total owner-occupier finance commitments (excluding refinancings) rose by a seasonally adjusted 0.7% over the month to be up by 6.8% over the year (see below charts).
By comparison, the value of investor finance commitments fell by 8.5% in September and were down by 2.1% over the year (see next chart).
The annual share of total loans going to investors (excluding refinancings) also fell to 50.9% in September from 51.4% last month:
Meanwhile, first home buyer (FHB) owner-occupied demand remained tepid in September at just 15.4% of total owner-occupied finance commitments. It did, however, rise by 6.2% in September, although it was down by 4.8% over the year (see below charts).
Meanwhile, the average loan size jumped 2.3% in September 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 falling investor demand:
The great Australian investor bubble appears to be cooked.
