Loans to owner occupiers fell 2.6% in January

The total number of new owner-occupier dwelling loans fell 2.6 per cent in January 2024, according to data released today by the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS).

Mish Tan, ABS head of finance statistics, said: “Liaison with lenders suggests that recent improvements to loan processing times increased the number of loans processed in peak periods this year, relative to prior years. Although owner-occupier lending has fallen for two months in a row, the growth in trend terms was 1.5 per cent over the year.”

New owner-occupier dwelling commitments and external refinancing, number, Australia

	Total dwellings, seasadj.	External refinancing, seasadj.	Total dwellings, trend	External refinancing, trend
Jan-14	28,026	12,650	28,055	12,693
Feb-14	28,280	13,534	28,064	12,548
Mar-14	28,014	12,157	28,067	12,464
Apr-14	27,947	12,389	28,048	12,458
May-14	28,088	12,608	27,998	12,525
Jun-14	28,071	12,550	27,913	12,643
Jul-14	27,794	12,837	27,818	12,784
Aug-14	27,643	13,114	27,770	12,930
Sep-14	27,677	12,868	27,778	13,070
Oct-14	27,986	13,375	27,840	13,208
Nov-14	26,783	13,250	27,964	13,376
Dec-14	28,244	13,558	28,112	13,572
Jan-15	28,378	13,730	28,235	13,786
Feb-15	28,070	13,992	28,292	14,008
Mar-15	28,555	14,312	28,285	14,197
Apr-15	28,608	14,763	28,273	14,326
May-15	26,418	14,083	28,316	14,397
Jun-15	28,249	14,731	28,434	14,435
Jul-15	28,354	14,478	28,620	14,499
Aug-15	29,535	14,248	28,815	14,629
Sep-15	29,795	14,813	28,969	14,825
Oct-15	28,994	15,062	29,033	15,061
Nov-15	28,622	15,564	28,986	15,321
Dec-15	29,010	16,740	28,880	15,596
Jan-16	28,368	15,719	28,808	15,872
Feb-16	28,849	15,685	28,806	16,116
Mar-16	28,495	16,396	28,840	16,308
Apr-16	29,028	16,795	28,822	16,435
May-16	28,980	16,476	28,695	16,468
Jun-16	28,923	16,265	28,457	16,396
Jul-16	27,914	16,192	28,162	16,212
Aug-16	27,646	15,227	27,921	15,941
Sep-16	27,719	15,882	27,850	15,625
Oct-16	27,899	15,240	27,997	15,310
Nov-16	28,129	14,962	28,348	15,006
Dec-16	29,027	14,517	28,800	14,725
Jan-17	29,661	15,279	29,231	14,485
Feb-17	29,334	14,409	29,583	14,276
Mar-17	29,888	14,304	29,875	14,079
Apr-17	30,208	13,610	30,143	13,893
May-17	29,533	13,910	30,415	13,723
Jun-17	30,353	13,532	30,692	13,601
Jul-17	31,396	13,362	30,925	13,555
Aug-17	32,223	13,699	31,023	13,607
Sep-17	31,061	13,749	30,946	13,748
Oct-17	30,690	13,793	30,700	13,928
Nov-17	30,372	14,100	30,308	14,087
Dec-17	29,731	14,297	29,845	14,183
Jan-18	29,641	14,427	29,417	14,173
Feb-18	29,287	14,177	29,088	14,075
Mar-18	28,693	13,591	28,870	13,933
Apr-18	28,324	13,827	28,744	13,780
May-18	28,948	13,667	28,658	13,666
Jun-18	28,756	13,065	28,556	13,620
Jul-18	28,839	13,833	28,389	13,639
Aug-18	28,042	13,575	28,113	13,674
Sep-18	27,643	13,521	27,719	13,684
Oct-18	28,367	13,912	27,228	13,652
Nov-18	27,333	13,666	26,691	13,581
Dec-18	25,362	13,492	26,147	13,459
Jan-19	25,354	12,988	25,605	13,304
Feb-19	25,597	13,306	25,127	13,127
Mar-19	24,707	13,055	24,777	12,935
Apr-19	24,549	12,783	24,611	12,779
May-19	24,323	12,620	24,630	12,698
Jun-19	24,728	11,652	24,815	12,711
Jul-19	25,376	12,581	25,132	12,836
Aug-19	25,607	13,031	25,546	13,080
Sep-19	25,886	13,804	25,990	13,431
Oct-19	26,126	13,706	26,377	13,854
Nov-19	26,925	14,209	26,655	14,325
Dec-19	26,861	14,707	26,763	14,800
Jan-20	26,909	15,322	26,658	15,234
Feb-20	26,353	15,692	26,322	15,586
Mar-20	25,703	14,885	25,819	15,831
Apr-20	24,357	16,031	25,298	15,951
May-20	22,267	19,950	24,936	15,969
Jun-20	24,415	18,965	24,876	15,929
Jul-20	27,122	14,330	29,194	15,870
Aug-20	30,043	14,962	29,902	15,842
Sep-20	32,950	17,199	30,954	15,887
Oct-20	32,818	16,029	32,238	16,025
Nov-20	33,555	13,851	33,629	16,271
Dec-20	35,886	15,424	35,013	16,642
Jan-21	40,391	17,302	36,293	17,132
Feb-21	39,743	19,131	37,373	17,729
Mar-21	39,115	18,152	38,139	18,436
Apr-21	38,691	19,225	38,478	19,194
May-21	38,487	19,920	38,347	19,931
Jun-21	38,146	20,464	37,787	20,562
Jul-21	37,156	21,610	36,956	21,027
Aug-21	35,700	21,542	36,052	21,308
Sep-21	34,304	20,872	35,260	21,430
Oct-21	33,391	21,625	34,673	21,449
Nov-21	34,138	21,187	34,234	21,413
Dec-21	34,615	21,626	33,851	21,373
Jan-22	35,010	19,744	33,434	21,412
Feb-22	33,077	21,204	32,919	21,569
Mar-22	32,032	21,585	32,315	21,846
Apr-22	31,198	21,994	31,688	22,255
May-22	31,410	23,028	31,060	22,733
Jun-22	30,486	23,745	30,403	23,227
Jul-22	29,511	23,452	29,645	23,705
Aug-22	29,127	24,135	28,728	24,145
Sep-22	27,916	24,577	27,660	24,571
Oct-22	26,484	24,453	26,545	25,066
Nov-22	25,539	26,369	25,554	25,625
Dec-22	24,452	25,763	24,823	26,209
Jan-23	24,174	26,654	24,423	26,732
Feb-23	23,678	27,224	24,348	27,101
Mar-23	24,861	27,800	24,505	27,289
Apr-23	24,928	26,134	24,747	27,259
May-23	26,396	27,391	24,983	26,987
Jun-23	25,348	26,313	25,185	26,463
Jul-23	24,697	27,964	25,358	25,679
Aug-23	25,349	25,421	25,513	24,688
Sep-23	25,567	23,246	25,623	23,533
Oct-23	26,794	20,516	25,628	22,288
Nov-23	27,115	21,099	25,475	21,084
Dec-23	25,239	19,975	25,175	20,051
Jan-24	24,581	18,447	24,779	19,221

The number of refinanced owner-occupier home loans between lenders fell 7.6 per cent and was 30.8 per cent lower than a year ago.

“The volume of loans being refinanced was comparatively higher than new loans for the first half of 2023, but has since fallen sharply as lenders reduced competitive cashback offers,” Dr Tan said.

The number of owner-occupier first home buyer loans fell 6.9 per cent in January 2024, but was 4.4 per cent higher compared to January 2023. Meanwhile, the value of these loans fell 6.0 per cent in the month, but was 13.2 per cent higher compared to a year ago. In original terms, the average loan size for a first home buyer loan rose from $485k to $514k over the year.

Housing finance loan commitments by property purpose and state, seasonally adjusted – January 2024

		Aus *	NSW	Vic	Qld	SA	WA	Tas	NT	ACT
Owner-occupiers
	Value ($b) :	15.9	4.8	4.4	3.1	1.0	1.8	0.2	0.07	0.4
	Value change ($m):	-771	-322	-445	-94	-13	32	-19	-13	-8
	Value % change ** :	-4.6	-6.3	-9.1	-2.9	-1.3	1.8	-8.4	-16.3 †	-2.0
Owner-occupier first home buyers
	Number change:	-648	-180	-159	-68	-68	-79	-11	-20	-14
	Number % change ** :	-6.9	-8.0	-5.3	-4.0	-10.3	-5.9	-7.4	-28.2 †	-6.1
Investors
	Value change ($m):	-244	-3	-157	-31	8	11	-1	7	-3
	Value % change ** :	-2.6	-0.1	-6.9	-1.6	1.5	1.2	-1.0	28.6 †	-1.4

* Total Australia levels do not necessarily equal the sum of states, due to independent seasonal adjustment

** All movements are on a month-to-month basis

† A smaller and more volatile series

The value of new loan commitments for total fixed term personal finance rose 6.0 per cent to $2.5 billion. This was driven by a rise of 5.7 per cent in lending for the purchase of road vehicles.

/ABS Public Release. View in full here.

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