Investor mortgages boom, first home buyers slump

Friday 10 March 2017

Today’s housing finance data for January, released by the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS), posted another strong monthly increase in investor finance commitments, but weaker demand from owner-occupies, most notably first home buyers (FHBs).

According to the ABS, the total number of owner-occupier finance commitments (excluding refinancings) fell by a seasonally adjusted 1.7% over the month to be up 4.6% over the year:

The full text of this article is available to MacroBusiness subscribers

$1 for your first month, then:

$24.99 / month

$249 / year

Cancel at any time through our billing provider, Stripe

About the author

Leith van Onselen is Chief Economist at the MB Fund and MB Super. He is also a co-founder of MacroBusiness. Leith has previously worked at the Australian Treasury, Victorian Treasury and Goldman Sachs.