Home buyer lending has dropped off again as higher interest rates continue to suppress demand for housing.
The 2.9 per cent monthly fall in new home commitments followed a 5.3 per cent uptick in housing-related borrowing in March.
The value of owner-occupier lending fell 3.8 per cent, to $15.4 billion, whereas investor borrowing sunk a more modest 0.9 per cent, to $7.9b.
Total housing lending is still 25.8 per cent lower than a year ago.
Oxford Economics Australia senior economist Maree Kilroy said the result had not undone the gains of the month before, with strong demand for housing and limited supply keeping a floor under home prices.
“New listings have fallen to a decade low, and price growth has returned in markets where households have a greater incidence of purchasing with cash such as the upper quartile of Sydney, Melbourne and Perth,” Ms Kilroy said.
The economist said it was unclear if price growth would continue throughout 2023.
“The impact of rising interest rates on existing at-risk borrowers is yet to play through, with a wave of fixed-rate mortgages to soon rollover,” she said.
“This still has the potential to trigger a material lift in pressured sales that can offset the current momentum in property prices in the back half of 2023.”
She said the number of loans for constructing dwellings fell to a historical low of 2546 in yet another sign of a struggling home building sector.
– AAP
