MORTGAGE MARKET STRENGTHENS DESPITE ELECTION: AUGUST DATA
But mining tax fears concern QLD and WA investors
Despite the Federal Election, mortgage sales in August were 10.9% higher than in July according to AFG, Australia’s largest mortgage broker.
AFG Mortgage Index shows a number of positive trends impacting on the mortgage market. For the second month in a row, sales to first home buyers increased – from 9.5% of the market in June to 11.7% in August.
Greater competition between lenders on price and policy, and especially the increasing of Loan to Value Ratios, is supporting both entry level home buyers as well as property investors.
Kevin Matthews, Executive Director of AFG says: ‘We now have two months of data which show that first home buyers are coming back. The impact of government grants, which had the effect of bringing forward first home buyer demand, seems to have washed through the system. With property prices in many areas having stabilized, and some lenders prepared to lend up to 95% of a property’s value, property is becoming more accessible to first home buyers and more attractive to investors, especially when compared to the volatile performance of stock markets.’
First home buyer activity was particular robust in NSW, where it comprised 15.5% of all new mortgages compared to 11.7% in June. First Home Buyers comprised 12.9% of all mortgages in WA, 11.7% in Victoria, 9% in Queensland and 6.7% in South Australia.
New South Wales and Victoria remain the most popular with investors, comprising 36.9% and 36.4% of all mortgages sold in those states respectively.
Investor confidence in WA and Queensland, more popular states with investors during the resource boom years, has been negatively impacted by uncertainty over a possible mining super tax.
Download – September Mortgage Index – National
