The recovery of the home loan market picked up pace in October, reflecting the strong demand for housing and rising prices.
According to the latest ABS lending data, the value of new housing loan commitments rose 5.4 per cent in October, compared with the previous month. This follows rises of 0.6 per cent in September and 2.2 per cent in August.
The A$26.7 billion of new lending was up 4.9 per cent over the 12 months to October.
The value of new lending to owner occupiers was up 5.6 per cent month-on-month and up 1.4 per cent over 12 months.
New lending to investors was up 5 per cent month-on-month and up 12.1 per cent over 12 months.
The value of external refinancing fell 7 per cent to $17.4 billion, the third consecutive monthly fall. The value of external refinancing fell 5 per cent over 12 months.
The value of new lending to first home buyers rose 1.4 per cent month-on-month to $4.6 billion and was up 3.1 per cent over 12 months.
The number of new loan commitments to first home buyers rose 5.1 per cent to 9,781 in October.
Reflecting the rise in house prices in recent months, the average loan size, at $610,000, was above $600,000 for the first time since January.
The latest Reserve Bank data show that lenders’ mortgage balances grew by 0.4 per cent in October and by 4.2 per cent over the 12 months to October.
Owner occupier loan balances were up 0.4 per cent month-on-month and 4.8 per cent over 12 months.
Investor loan balances rose 0.3 per cent month-on-month and rose 2.9 per cent over 12 months.
APRA figures for October show that with system growth at 4.3 per cent annualised over the three months to October, CBA’s mortgage portfolio shrank by 1.6 per cent annualised over the three months, while ANZ’s grew 9.4 per cent, NAB’s 4.4 per cent and Westpac’s 5.1 per cent.
Judo Bank continues to report very strong growth, at 23.9 per cent annualised over the three months to September. Macquarie Bank’s book grew 17.1 per cent annualised over the same period.