QTPA Member Alert |ABS Housing Finance, Australia, Apr 2013 (12/6/2013)

ABS Housing Finance, Australia, Apr 2013

APRIL 2013 KEY FIGURES

	Trend estimates		Seasonally adjusted estimates
	Apr 13	Mar to Apr 13	Apr 13	Mar to Apr 13
Value of dwelling commitments (a) (b)
	$m	% change	$m	% change
Total dwellings	22 653	1.2	22 749	.2
Owner occupied housing	14 530	1.2	14 609	-0.9
Investment housing – fixed loans (c)	8 123	1.2	8 140	1.1
Number of dwelling commitments (a) (b)
	No.	% change	No.	% change
Owner occupied housing	47 566	1.4	48 475	0.8
Construction of dwellings	5 302	1.5	5 343	0.2
Purchase of new dwellings	2 896	3.5	2 986	-0.4
Purchase of established dwellings	39 369	1.2	40 146	1.0

(a) Includes refinancing (see Glossary).

(b) Excludes alterations and additions.

APRIL 2013 KEY POINTS

VALUE OF DWELLING COMMITMENTS

April 2013 compared with March 2013:

The trend estimate for the total value of dwelling finance commitments excluding alterations and additions rose 1.2%. Owner occupied housing commitments rose 1.2% and investment housing commitments rose 1.2%.
In seasonally adjusted terms, the total value of dwelling finance commitments excluding alterations and additions fell 0.2%.

NUMBER OF DWELLING COMMITMENTS

April 2013 compared with March 2013:

In trend terms, the number of commitments for owner occupied housing finance rose 1.4%.
In trend terms, the number of commitments for the purchase of new dwellings rose 3.5%, the number of commitments for the construction of dwellings rose 1.5% and the number of commitments for the purchase of established dwellings rose 1.2%.
In original terms, the number of first home buyer commitments as a percentage of total owner occupied housing finance commitments rose to 14.3% in April 2013 from 14.2% in March 2013.