Investors are back driving the home loan market as they seek to capitalise on the six rate rises from the Reserve Bank.
Figures from the Australian Bureau of Statistics yesterday showed that the number of home loans rose 1.9% in May to 48,818 from April, when they fell a revised 1.5% (1.8% originally).
The total value of loans in May rose 0.7% to $21.4 billion.
It was the first monthly rise in eight months.
The main driver for the rise was a 2.6% lift in the number of investment loans to $7.66 billion, the ABS said.
That’s up 32% since the beginning of last year.
The value of lending for owner-occupied housing also fell again in May, easing 0.3% to $13.7 billion, seasonally adjusted.
But the number of new loans for owner-occupied housing rose 1.9% in May from April, the ABS said.
Excluding refinancings, the seasonally adjusted number of owner-occupied houses financed rose 0.8% in May 2010.
The ABS said the number of loans for the construction of new owner-occupied homes fell 2.2% in May, while the number of new home purchases financed jumped by 4.7% in May.
Including refinancings, the number of loans for the purchase of existing homes rose 2.3% in May. There was a 4.8% rise in refinancings in May.
And the commercial property market remains tough with loans for new construction dropping 2.2% in May and are now off a massive 32% since last October.
The average loan size for owner-occupied housing dropped $3,800 in May to $283,100, the ABS said.
For first time buyers, the average loan size contracted by $2,400 to $287,700.
First-home buyers accounted for 16.1% of dwellings that were financed in May, down from 16.3% in April and 28.5% in May last year when the first home buyers grant uptake was in full swing.
In NSW loans for owner-occupied housing increased 2.3%, seasonally adjusted, while they were up 0.4% in Victoria, 3.8% in Queensland and 1.9% in South Australia. Lending was also up in Tasmania and the Northern Territory.
But they fell 3.8% in WA and 2.4% in Australian Capital Territory, the ABS said.
