Home lending continues to seesaw, falling once again in February, according to data released this week from the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS).
The latest figures show that the value of new housing loans fell 3.7% to $32.3 billion in February 2022 (seasonally adjusted), following a record high in the previous month.
The result was driven by a 4.7% fall in the value of new owner-occupier loans, the first since October 2021. This figure was 1.0% lower than February 2021, but 55% higher than February 2020.
Falls in the value of owner-occupier loans were seen across most states and territories. The largest were in New South Wales (down 10.5%), Victoria (down 5.2%) and the Australian Capital Territory (down 23.6%).
The number of new loans to first home buyers fell 8.3% in February 2022. This was 36.7% lower compared to a year ago, and continues the decline seen since the recent peak in first home buyer lending in January 2021.
Investors and first home buyers also dropped back in February, with falls in the latter sector down across all states and territories. Similar to overall owner-occupier lending, the largest falls were in New South Wales (down 15.5%), Victoria (down 5.9%) and the Australian Capital Territory (down 31.9%).
While remaining close to the record high seen in January, investor lending also fell in February, down 1.8% to $10.8 billion. This was the first fall in investor lending since October 2020.
The fall in investor loans was driven mostly by New South Wales (down 5.5%), Queensland (down 2.6%) and the Australian Capital Territory (down 11.9%). Victoria was flat while Western Australia rose 6.8% and Tasmania rose 2.8%.
