Housing Construction Loans up by 8%
Home lending is experiencing a surge in demand from first time homebuyers and investors. According to the latest housing finance figures form the Australian Bureau of Statistics, housing loans climbed by 2.2 percent in May – the highest level in the last 12 months. The strength of the industry is particularly focused on construction of new homes. While purchase of new dwellings increased by 2.9 percent, construction of new houses is up by 8 percent.
Owner-occupied housing gained 2.3 percent, while loans for investment homes are up by 2.4 percent. For first-home owners, the increase in May totaled 29.5 percent over April’s 28.6 percent.
Queensland is leading the home loan growth registering an increase of 3.4 percent. Victoria comes in second with a rise of 3.1 percent in owner-occupied home loans. South Australia follows at +2.6 percent, New South Wales at +1.5 percent and Western Asutralia at +0.5 percent. The Northern Territory shows a decline with -5.4 percent, Tasmania is at -3.3% and the Australian Capital Territory records fell by 1%.
Aside from increasing consumer confidence in the economy’s recovery government handouts have also helped bolster the real property market. According to the Westpac-Melbourne Institute survey, the $20 billion cash handouts have resulted in a 9.3% jump for consumer confidence in July.
The housing figures seem to be defying economist expectations. In a survey of economists, they expected only a 1.3 percent gain in May.
