The value of new housing finance commitments rose 1.7 per cent in May, compared with the previous month. The A$32.4 billion of new lending during the month was 0.4 per cent down on the same time last year.
According to the latest Australian Bureau of Statistics lending data, new lending to owner occupiers was up 2.1 per cent May and down 9.7 per cent over 12 months.
New lending to residential property investors was up 0.9 per cent month-on-month and up 23.7 per cent over 12 months.
The rise in May followed a fall of 2.8 per cent in April. The ABS said the Easter and Anzac Day holidays in April cut down the processing of applications and the rise in May was due to lenders clearing the backlog.
The peak in lending was January, when there were $33.4 billion of new housing finance commitments – the highest figure in the ABS data set.
External refinancing rose 3.1 per cent to $17.1 billion.
Average owner occupier loan sizes rose 0.7 per cent to $615,000. The ABS said loan sizes have continued to rise, despite the recent moderation in lending activity, because of a larger decline in the number of loan commitments relative to their value.
According to the latest Reserve Bank lending data, lenders mortgage balances rose 0.6 per cent in May and 7.9 per cent over 12 months.
Owner occupier balances were up 0.6 per cent month-on-month and 8.9 per cent over 12 months. Investor loan balances were up 0.6 per cent month-on-month and 6.1 per cent over 12 months.
According to the latest APRA lending data, NAB is the only big bank currently matching system growth.
NAB’s book grew 0.6 per cent in May, while ANZ’s book grew 0.2 per cent in May, Commonwealth Bank’s book grew 0.4 per cent and Westpac’s book grew 0.3 per cent.
Lenders that achieved above-system growth over the past few months include Australian Unity Bank (up 9.4 per cent over the three months to May), Macquarie Bank (up 8.9 per cent), HSBC Bank Australia (up 5.5 per cent), Citibank (5.4 per cent), MyState Bank (up 5.1 per cent) and Beyond Bank (up 4.9 per cent).