Australia: Steady increase in housing finance continues – ANZ

According to analysts at ANZ, investor growth in housing slightly outpaced owner-occupiers (excluding refinance), but both represented a steady increase in demand for mortgages for the Australian economy.

Key Quotes

“Owner-occupier lending grew 1.6% m/m in November ex refinancing. This is the fifth strong monthly result in a row. The annual growth result (10.0%) was the strongest in two years.”

“Investor lending was up 2.2% m/m in November ex-refinancing. Annual growth is still slightly negative (-3.2%) but we expect this to turn positive in the short term.”

“Strong housing price growth amidst modest rises in supply are pushing up average loan sizes and squeezing some first home buyers out of the market. The number of loans issued to new home buyers has fallen two months in a row, for the first time since January. The expected rate cut in February may exacerbate strong housing price growth, and could lead to more upward pressure to loan sizes.”

“On the other hand, we are seeing the early stages of a recovery in listing volumes, and expect building activity to start growing later in the year. This may somewhat ease the upward pressure on housing prices by expanding the supply of available homes for sale.”