GENERAL NEWS
NATIONALLY, both home commitments and building approvals were down over June, after a standout May performance.
According to the latest ABS Building Approvals results, nationally total dwelling approvals were down 7.7% in June to 13,808, off the back of a strong May result.
Queensland led the increase in total dwelling approvals for the month with a 28.3% increase, followed by Victoria which was up...
Private houses saw a softer 1.35% decline, after a 0.8% increase over May. Led by declines in Victoria and Western Australia, down...
Nationally, private attached dwellings fell 21% over the month to 5,229 approvals, reflecting a yearly decline of 21.4%, after a May increase of...
“This data is the canary in the coalmine for Australian housing. We continue going backwards each year, with a shortfall of at least...
At the same time, the value of total building was up 1.2% over the month to $14,817 million, after a 11.4% increase in May...
While the value of total residential building approvals was down 4.6% to $6,366 million, with a 4.6% decrease in new residential building and...
“Demand and supply for housing are moving in opposite directions. This will sustain a sizeable dwelling deficiency over the coming years...
Meanwhile the latest ABS Lending Indicators release revealed national home commitments—excluding refinancing—was down 1% over June to $24.6 billion...
“Lending activity remains well down from the busy pace we saw in early 2022. Compared to a year ago, the value of new housing lending in...
This as owner occupier lending dropped 2.8% to $15.9 billion, which was largely offset by a 2.6% increase in investor lending to...
“Investors are making up a larger share of new housing lending, with the share of lending going to investors hitting 35.3% in...
While the number of new first home buyer loans were also down over June, with a 0.8% decline. This was led by a drop of 5.1% in NSW...
The value of new loan commitments for the purchase of existing dwellings was also down, with a 4.4% drop to $4.13 billion...
“Refinancing activity continues to be very strong for both investors and owner occupiers, though it was a little slower than in May...
“As many borrowers will continue to roll off fixed rates over the rest of 2023, refinancing activity is likely to remain strong.