Housing confidence strong, Liberal plan is working

Michael Ferguson,Minister for Finance

Today’s ABS home loan lending data for July shows that Tasmanians have confidence in our housing market, with the number of new owner-occupier home loan commitments (excluding refinancing) growing 16.9 per cent, which was the second highest monthly growth rate of any state.

The data also highlights that Tasmania remains a great place to buy or build your first home, with the number of owner-occupier first home buyers in Tasmania growing by 14.8 per cent in July in seasonally adjusted terms.

In July there were 787 new owner-occupier loan commitments, and 221 new investor loan commitments in original terms.

This follows building approvals data for July last week which were 50 per cent higher than the previous month, which was the highest growth rate in the country.

The Government will continue to deliver its plan to rebuild a stronger Tasmania, which includes our $3.1 billion Construction Blitz supporting the development of 2,300 new homes and under pinning 15,000 jobs.

As we have said, the best way to grow business confidence and create jobs is to grow the economy, and that is what we are doing.

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