The rate of growth in new housing finance commitments is slowing as first home buyers drop out of an overheated market and other owner-occupiers take a more cautious approach, leaving investors to drive growth.
According to the latest Australian Bureau of Statistics lending data, new housing finance commitments rose 2.6 per cent in January, compared with the previous month, and by 18.2 per cent over 12 months.
The value of new lending to owner occupier rose 1 per cent month-on-month and 3.4 per cent over 12 months.
The value of new lending to residential property investors rose 6.1 per cent month-on-month and by 67.8 per cent over 12 months.
The value of new housing finance commitments was A$33.7 billion. The rate of growth has slowed from year-on-year growth of more than 30 per cent through much of last year. The slowdown reflects the impact of rising house prices and higher fixed mortgage interest rates.
The $33.7 billion figure does not include external refinancing, which was worth $14.2 billion in January. The level of refinancing has slowed from more than $16 billion a month in September and October, as the increase fixed interest rates has taken away some of the incentive to refinance.
The number of new loan commitments to first home buyers fell 6.9 per cent month-on-month and was down 32.6 per cent over 12 months.
Reserve Bank figures released earlier in the week show that lenders’ mortgage balances grew by 0.7 per cent in January and by 7.7 per cent over 12 months.
Owner occupiers balance were up 0.8 per cent month-on-month and 9.8 per cent over 12 months, while investor balances were up 0.4 per cent in January and 3.7 per cent over 12 months.
According to the latest APRA data, among the big banks Commonwealth Bank and NAB continue to grow share, while ANZ and Westpac are falling behind.
Over the three months to January, NAB’s mortgage book grew 3.1 per cent and CBA’s book grew 2.3 per cent. System growth was 2.1 per cent over the three months.
ANZ’s mortgage book grew 0.1 per cent over the three months and Westpac’s grew by 0.6 per cent.
Among other lenders, AMP Bank, Arab Bank, Auswide, Bank of us, Bank of Queensland, Citibank, Great Southern Bank, HSBC, Macquarie Bank, Beyond Bank, Regional Australia Bank, Bank Australia, MyState Bank and Teachers Mutual Bank all grew above system.