Finance for first-home buyers lifts but remains low

The Housing Finance statistics, released by the Australian Bureau of Statistics last week, continue to show volatility, but with a positive result for total dwelling finance for the month of March, up by 0.9 percent.

“Performance across the States was mixed, with the number of commitments increasing in NSW, Tasmania, the Northern Territory and the ACT, slightly edging out a fall in the number of dwelling commitments in Victoria, Queensland, Western Australia and South Australia,” Matthew Pollock, Master Builders, National Manager Housing said.

“The number of first home buyer loans jumped by 20 percent in March, recording an extra 1,350 loans on top of the February statistics.

But the share of first home buyer loans is still very low, at 13.6 percent of total loan commitments in March, compared to a decade average of around 18 percent,” Matthew Pollock said.