Investor loans rose 1.2% in February

Media Release
Released
8/04/2024

The total value of new housing loans to investors rose 1.2 per cent in February 2024, according to data released today by the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS).

Mish Tan, ABS head of finance statistics, said: “The value of new investor loans in February was 21.5 per cent higher compared to a year ago. This made up over half of the growth in total new loan commitments over the past year.”

The value of new owner-occupier loans was 9.1 per cent higher compared to a year ago, while the value of owner-occupier first home buyer loans was 20.7 per cent higher over the same period.

The total number of new owner-occupier loans rose 0.9 per cent in February 2024. Meanwhile, the number of owner-occupier first home buyer loans rose 4.3 per cent and were 13.2 per cent higher compared to a year ago.

 

Housing finance loan commitments by property purpose and state, seasonally adjusted – Feb 2024
 Aus *NSWVicQldSAWATasNTACT
Owner-occupiers 
 Value ($b) :16.95.34.73.41.01.80.20.070.4
 Value change ($m):2691712232-10-6019340
 Value % change ** :1.63.40.047.4-1.0-3.39.44.110.6
Owner-occupier first home buyers 
 Number change:385142375347-11217
 Number % change ** :4.36.41.33.20.70.5-0.723.57.5
Investors 
 Value change ($m):11555-4549-216-3-28
 Value % change ** :1.21.5-2.12.6-3.80.6-3.0-4.84.8

* 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 new loan commitments for total fixed term personal finance fell 0.9 per cent to $2.4 billion. This was driven by a fall of 2.7 per cent in lending for the purchase of road vehicles.

More information is available in Lending Indicators, Australia.

Media notes

  • The leap year day on February 29 has been analysed and accounted for in the Lending Indicators seasonally adjusted and trend estimates, by using trading day adjustments. The impact of the extra leap year day will be evident in the original (non-seasonally adjusted) series. For more information, please refer to this note.
  • All figures are seasonally adjusted unless noted otherwise.
  • Lending Indicators reverted to concurrent seasonal adjustment in the October 2022 release. This method of seasonal adjustment will result in revisions to historical data each month. For more information, see the methodology page.
  • When reporting ABS data, you must attribute the Australian Bureau of Statistics (or the ABS) as the source.
  • For media requests and interviews, please contact the ABS Media Team via media@abs.gov.au (8:30am-5pm AEDT Mon-Fri).
  • Subscribe to our media release notification service to get notified of ABS media releases or publications upon their release.
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