Investor lending continues to outpace owner-occupiers
Lending by property investors continues to run faster than the value of home loans taken out by owner-occupiers, reflecting a still-tight rental market.
That’s as the total value of lending to property investors, owner-occupiers and first-home buyers rose 1.3 per cent in June following a 1.7 per cent slide in May.
New housing loans hit $29.2 billion, data compiled by the Australian Bureau of Statistics showed, to be 19.1 per cent higher compared with a year earlier.
ABS head of finance statistics Mish Tan said investor lending growth continued to outpace loans to owner-occupiers.
In June, owner-occupier loans rose 0.5 per cent to $18.2 billion, while investor loans gained another 2.7 per cent, to $11 billion.
“The total value of new investor loans was 30.2 per cent higher compared to a year ago, while for owner-occupiers it was 13.2 per cent,” Ms Tan said.
Oxford Economics Australia senior economist Maree Kilroy said the tight rental market and higher gross rental yields were helping to stoke investor demand.
“The spread between owner-occupier and investor mortgage rates has also progressively tightened with banks competing for market share,” she said.
New investment loan growth was driven by NSW, up 27.3 per cent or $901 million, Queensland, up 34.5 per cent or $587 million, and Western Australia, up 56.7 per cent or $428 million.
Victoria logged a more muted 9.4 per cent increase, which Ms Kilroy said reflected policy tweaks towards investors.
Mid-sized capitals Perth, Adelaide and Brisbane have seen the fastest home price growth, with Thursday’s price update from CoreLogic revealing a continuation of the dual-speed trend of these cities growing much faster than other big urban areas.
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