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First home buyers take out 13.6% of new mortgages

Nick Bendel avatar
Nick Bendel
- 2 min read
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New statistics on first home buyers have painted a mixed picture, as talk of housing affordability continues to dominate the news.

First home buyers were responsible for 13.6 per cent of the owner-occupier mortgages that were taken out in March, according to new data from the Australian Bureau of Statistics.

That was an increase on the February result, which was 13.3 per cent.

However, it was a decline on the result from March 2016, which was 14.2 per cent.

The average loan size for first home buyers in March was $316,300, compared to $308,900 in February and $328,700 in March 2016.

First home buyer commitments

March 2017Monthly changeAnnual change
Share of owner-occupier housing finance commitments13.6%+0.3 points-0.6 points
Average loan size$316,300+2.4%-3.8%

All buyers

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Meanwhile, buyers of all kinds signed on for $33.2 billion worth of mortgages in March.

Owner-occupiers represented 60.4 per cent of this share, while investors represented 39.6 per cent.

Between March 2016 and March 2017, lenders reduced their lending to owner-occupiers by 2.6 per cent, while they increased their lending to investors by 8.2 per cent.

Value of dwelling commitments (seasonally adjusted)

March 2017Monthly changeAnnual change
All housing$33.2 billion+0.9%+1.3%
Owner-occupier housing$20.2 billion+0.9%-2.6%
Investor housing$13.0 billion+0.8%+8.2%

Disclaimer

This article is over two years old, last updated on May 15, 2017. While RateCity makes best efforts to update every important article regularly, the information in this piece may not be as relevant as it once was. Alternatively, please consider checking recent home loans articles.

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