 Banks report increase, niche lenders struggle
Home buyers are choosing banks over non-bank lenders for mortgages, according to the Australian Bureau of Statistics.
Banks report 2.3 per cent increase in demand in November while non-bank lenders reported a decline of 8.3 per cent. October showed a rare rise in demand with non-bank lenders, but the figures for November show consumers are walking back through the doors of the big banks.
Home loan approvals rose slightly in November with owner-occupied housing finance rising a seasonally adjusted 1.3 per cent, and financing approvals for new homes jumping 9.8 per cent, but financing to build new houses fell a seasonally adjusted 0.3 per cent.
The “mortgage index” published by Australian Finance Group, a mortgage aggregator, and covering new business for December 2008, shows that affiliated brokers handled $2.2 billion of new loans during that month, down from $2.4 billion in November 2008 and up from $2.0 billion in December 2007.
As first home buyers eagerly spend the increase in the first home owners’ grant from the Australian government, new building approvals were down for the month.
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