New ABS data indicates that the Australian property market remains challenging for new entrants, as the number of new owner-occupier first home buyer loans declined by 8.1% in January 2023.
Despite Australia’s property market cooling over much of 2022 and a slew of government grants intended to assist first home buyers in entering the market, including the First Home Loan Deposit Scheme and the First Home Super Saver Scheme, the number of new owner-occupier first home buyer loans dropped by 8.1% in January 2023, the lowest level since February 2017.
New ABS data shows that in January 2023, the value of new owner-occupier loans decreased by 4.9% to $14.7 billion, while new investor loans declined by 6% to $7.4 billion. Collectively, new loan commitments for housing dropped to a total of $22.1 billion, representing a 5.3% decrease.
Conclusion
Mish Tan, Head of Finance and Wealth Statistics at ABS, observed that “owner-occupier first home buyer lending has continued to decrease from the peak achieved in January 2021.”
“The decrease was concurrent with the phasing out of COVID-19 pandemic stimulus measures,” stated the speaker.
Tan also mentioned “anecdotal input” from lenders, which indicated that a decrease in borrowing capacity as a result of rising interest rates had impacted overall demand for new housing loans in recent months.
