Australia: Housing finance approvals soften again - Westpac

Simon Murray, Research Analyst at Westpac, notes that Australian housing finance approvals continued to soften in August as the headline number of owner occupier loans fell 2.1%, -10.2%yr, and excluding refinancing, the decline amounted to 2.9%, -13.9%yr.

Key Quotes

“The value of investor loans were also lower, down 1.1% to be 20.5% lower over the past year to August (an estimated -26% excluding refinancing).”

“The total value of housing finance approvals including investors but excluding owner occupier refi, fell 2.7% in August and is down 13.6% in annual terms.”

“Overall, the finance data is consistent with the continued cooling in market conditions evident in auction markets and prices. The latest CoreLogic price data continues to show price declines.”