Refinancing reached another record high in November

Media Release
Released
13/01/2023

The value of owner-occupier refinancing between lenders rose 9.1 per cent to a new high of $13.4 billion in November (seasonally adjusted), while total new loan commitments for housing fell 3.7 per cent, according to data released today by the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS).

Dane Mead, acting ABS head of Finance and Wealth, said: “More borrowers switched lenders for lower interest rates as the RBA’s cash rate target continued to rise.”

This month’s value of loan commitments continued to decline from record high levels seen earlier in 2022. New owner-occupier loan commitments fell 3.8 per cent in November, while new investor loan commitments fell 3.6 per cent.

“The number of owner-occupier dwelling commitments also continued to fall in November to below the pre-pandemic level for the first time,” Mr Mead said.

The number of new loan commitments to owner-occupier first home buyers fell 5.5 per cent in November 2022, driving the overall fall in owner-occupier lending. First home buyer loans in November were 51 per cent below their January 2021 peak and 16 per cent below the February 2020 pre-pandemic level.

  Aus *NSWVicQldSAWATasNTACT
Owner-occupiers
 Value ($b) :16.45.04.83.20.91.70.20.10.4
 Value % change ** :-3.8-3.4-6.0-2.1-1.9-3.9-4.6-7.4-5.4
Owner-occupier first home buyers
 Number % change ** :-5.5-5.9-6.1-5.1-3.9-5.716.4 †-14.9 †-16.3 †
Investors
 Value % change ** :-3.6-2.2-4.5-0.7-3.50.0-16.0-19.0-10.5

* Total Australia levels do not necessarily equal the sum of states, due to independent seasonal adjustment

** All movements are on a month-to-month basis

† A smaller and more volatile series

Personal finance

The value of total new loan commitments for fixed term personal finance fell 1.3 per cent in November 2022. This was driven by a 9.3 per cent fall in lending for personal investment. Lending for the purchase of road vehicles fell 2.9 per cent.

In smaller personal finance series, there was a 5.1 per cent rise in lending for the purchase of household goods to a new all-time high, while lending for travel & holidays remained slightly higher than pre-pandemic levels. This was consistent with the Monthly Household Spending Indicator as well as Retail Trade results for November 2022.

More information is available in Lending Indicators, Australia.

Media notes

  • Month-on-month movements are noted above in percentage terms but, where contrasted against each other, ordered in largest to smallest value terms (e.g. state and territory movements).

  • When reporting ABS data, you must attribute the Australian Bureau of Statistics (or the ABS) as the source.

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