Housing Finance — March | By the numbers
- Housing finance approvals to owner-occupiers (excluding refinancing) fell by 2.8% in March to 31,130, which was well down on the market forecast for -0.5% (prior rev: +0.5% from +0.8%). Approvals through the year declined by 13.8% (prior rev: -12.6%Y/Y from -12.5%).
- The total value of housing finance commitments (excluding refinancing) fell by 3.2% in the month to $A16.94bn (prior rev: +2.0% from +2.7%) to be down by 18.4% over the year (prior: -18.6%).
Housing Finance — March | The details
Lending fell notably to both of the major segments in March following increases in the previous month. For owner-occupiers, lending excluding re-financing slid by 3.4% in the month to $12.4bn after a 2.8% rise in February. That widened the annual decline to 15.2% from 14.0%. Commitments to investors (ex-refinancing) fell by 2.7% in March to $4.54bn, while the initially reported 0.9% rise in February was revised to show a 0.2% softening. Lending to the segment fell by 25.9% across the year.
The total value of refinancing committed in March eased by 0.6% to $8.32bn, which is 9.1% down on a year earlier. Refinancing by owner-occupiers declined by 1.1% in the month to $5.9bn (-5.8%Y/Y), while there was a 0.8% rise from the investor segment to $2.42bn (-16.3%Y/Y). Commitments to owner-occupiers for renovations fell by 4.9% in March to $275m (-15.0%Y/Y). *Click on the charts to expand
The value of lending commitments excluding refinancing fell by 5.9% over the March quarter, led by a 9.1% deterioration from investors, while owner-occupiers recorded a 4.7% decline.
Loan approvals made to owner-occupiers fell by 2.8% in March to 31,130. Within that figure, construction-related approvals fell by 1.2% in the month to 7,617 to be down by 12.7% over the year. Approvals to purchase established dwellings fell by 3.3% in March to 23,513 and have fallen by 14.2% through the year.
Looking across the states, owner-occupier approvals fell across the board in March and over the first quarter; New South Wales -3.7% (Q1 -8.4%), Victoria -1.2% (-5.9%), Queensland -2.7% (-6.1%), South Australia -2.1% (-4.6%), Western Australia -2.4% (-6.4%) and Tasmania -8.4% (-2.6%).
The ABS does not provide loan approval estimates for the investor segment, but it produces value details. For March, investment lending saw broad-based declines; New South Wales -3.5%, Victoria -4.9%, Queensland -2.8%, South Australia -4.2% and Tasmania -3.8%. Lending lifted in Western Australia by 11.3%.
The table, below, provides the full breakdown of state-based detail across the segments and by buyer type.
Housing Finance — March | Insights
The demand for housing finance demand continues to slide reflecting a range of contractionary forces including tight credit standards, declining property prices, reduced turnover and uncertainty over divergent policies held by the major parties ahead of this Saturday's Federal election. Recent data from auction clearances has improved somewhat, though there were few signs of stabilisation within today's update.
