MNI Australia Housing Finance Up First Time In Six Months

By Sophia Rodrigues

     SYDNEY (MNI) - The number of owner-occupier home loans rose for the first

time in six months and while the trend rate was down for eight straight months,

the pace of decline slowed in May.

     Data published by the Australian Bureau of Statistics Wednesday showed the

number of owner-occupier mortgages rose 1.1% m/m in May following an upward

revision in the decline in April to 0.9% m/m from -1.4% originally reported.

     In trend terms, the number of loans fell 0.7% m/m in May, compared with

-0.8% in April and was the slowest drop since a similar decline in November last

year.  

     In value terms, mortgages for owner-occupier housing rose 0.7% but fell

0.1% for investment housing. Loans for investment housing fell for three

straight months but the latest 0.1% m/m drop marked a sharp slowing in the rate

of decline compared with the 8.9% fall seen in March.

     From Housing Finance data for May published by the Australian Bureau of

Statistics on Wednesday:

                                                     May                   April

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

                                      (M/M %, seasonally      (M/M %, seasonally

                                               adjusted)               adjusted)

Number of Owner-Occupied Dwelling                             -0.9 (revised from

Commitments                                         +1.1                   -1.4)

MNI Median Consensus                                -1.8

-Construction of Dwellings                          +1.2                     0.0

-Purchase of New Dwellings                          +0.1                    -3.6

-Purchase of Established

Dwellings                                           +1.2                    -0.9

Value of Dwelling Commitments                       +0.5                    -0.1

-Owner occupied housing                             +0.7                    +0.3

-Investment housing                                 -0.1                    -0.8

--MNI Sydney Bureau; tel: +61 2-9716-5467; email: sophia.rodrigues@marketnews.com

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