The value of new home loans fell by 3.2% fall for the month of March, expunging February’s 2.2% rise.
According to a record released by the Australian Bureau of Statistics this Monday, the value of mortgage lending for this month fell 18.4% lower compared to last year’s total of $16.93 billion
In total, the value of new mortgage lending fell by 3.7% to $30.75 billion
As reported by Herald Sun, a record of 5.7% fall in NSW for owner occupier dwellings and a 5.3% in Queensland were experienced in the month of March, following rises in both states during the previous month.
On a national level, a total of 25.9% decrease in lending for investment dwellings were also documented further in March compared to the same month of last year.
Tom Kennedy, a researcher at JP Morgan, explained that both own-occupiers and investors exhibit promising signs of run rate stabilization; however, both parties were set to remain in negative territory.
“We expect each series to remain under pressure as more stringent lending standards make it harder to secure financing, while falling house prices and historically low rental yields limit the appeal of the asset class in general,” Kennedy said.
With the said rate, the Australian Bureau of Statistics said the new lending for investment dwellings is at its lowest level since March of 2011.
Meanwhile, a record of 11.2% fall in new lending for personal finance was also documented in March, contradicting the rises in January and February, while a fall of 1.5% to $32.12 billion was also recorded in lending to businesses for the same month.
With all these statistics, the value of total lending for March was 2.6% lower at $62.88 billion.
Maree Kilroy, BIS Oxford Economics, said that the number of first home buyer loans is likely to subdue until 2020.
“Whilst we are starting to see some policy responses to weak first home buyer demand … any proposal is unlikely to have a material effect until 2020,” she said.
