June Housing Loan Surge

The Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) has reported a 1.3% increase in the total value of new housing loans for June, reaching $29.2 billion.

Owner-occupier loans saw a modest rise of 0.5%, totalling $18.2 billion, while investor loans grew significantly by 2.7%, amounting to $11 billion.

According to Mish Tan, head of finance statistics at ABS, "Investor lending growth has outpaced that of owner-occupiers in June. The total value of new investor loans was up by 30.2% year-over-year, compared to a 13.2% increase for owner-occupiers."

The ABS data also highlights a rise in new investor loan values across all states and territories over the past year. Notably, New South Wales saw a 27.3% increase ($901 million), Queensland a 34.5% rise ($587 million), and Western Australia a 56.7% jump ($428 million). Victoria experienced a more modest growth of 9.4% ($199 million), while South Australia had a 38.3% increase, totalling $175 million.

"New South Wales continues to have the highest average loan sizes for both owner-occupiers and investors. In June, the average loan size reached $780,000 for owner-occupiers and $818,000 for investors," Tan added.

Additionally, the number of new first home buyer loans for owner-occupiers rose by 0.7% in June and 3.4% compared to the previous year. This increase was largely driven by a 6.5% rise in Victoria, which has consistently led in the number of first home buyer loans since June 2017.

The value of new fixed-term personal finance loan commitments also saw an increase of 1.1%, reaching $2.6 billion, and was up 11.7% from the previous year. Lending for road vehicle purchases increased by 0.5% during the month.