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Australian homebuyers took out $31 billion in mortgages in April alone, as property market surges

Gerard Cockburn NCA NewsWire
Home buying across Australia is still surging. NCA NewsWire/Joel Carrett
Camera IconHome buying across Australia is still surging. NCA NewsWire/Joel Carrett Credit: News Corp Australia

Home buying across Australia is still surging with latest figures revealing a big bump in new mortgages being committed.

Latest lending indicators collected by the Australian Bureau of Statistics has revealed new loans for housing rose 3.7 per cent in April, compared to the prior month.

Overall, Australians have signed up to $31 billion worth of housing debt in April alone, which is a record high according to the nation’s peak statistics body.

New lending surged in NSW and Victoria but slumped 7.9 per cent in WA as a result of the State’s building bonus grant ending. That followed a fall of 5.1 per cent in March.

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Owner-occupier mortgages jumped 4.3 per cent nationally over the month, which equates to $23b, while investor property loans rose by 2.1 per cent since March, to a total of $8.05b .

ABS statistician Katherine Keenan said owner-occupiers loans saw a big rise and investor loans have not seen this type of surge since mid-2017.

Housing Stock
Camera IconOwner occupier mortgages jumped 4.3 per cent. NCA NewsWire/Joel Carrett Credit: News Corp Australia

“The rise in owner-occupier lending was driven by increased loan commitments for existing dwellings, which rose 9.2 per cent,” she said.

Ms Keenan noted loan commitments for the construction of new dwellings had petered off due to the ending of Homebuilder grants offered by both state and federal governments.

“Loan commitments to owner-occupiers for the construction of new dwellings fell by 11.4 per cent, following a fall of 14.8 per cent in March,” she said.

“These were the first monthly declines since the Homebuilder grant was introduced in June 2020.

“However, the value of construction commitments remained at a high level.”

HomeBuilder grants were closed to new applications on April 14.

Personal fixed-term loans nationally rose 4.8 per cent and was fuelled by big spends in personal investment and new vehicle lending.

Originally published as Australian homebuyers took out $31 billion in mortgages in April alone, as property market surges

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