HOUSING FINANCE UP

THE latest housing finance figures released by the ABS shows owner-occupier mortgages in Australia is continuing a slight positive trend.

The statistics for December 2010 indicate a 1.1 per cent increase in total dwelling finance on the previous month, to just under $21.3 billion. The increase in owner-occupier mortgages (1.4%) is dominating investment housing finance (0.5%), raising the comparable figures to $14.5b and $6.7b respectively.

In seasonally adjusted terms, the total value of dwelling finance commitments excluding alterations and additions rose 2.5 per cent to $21.6b.

Other statistics show finance on new dwelling constructions is also up 1.4 per cent to $5b; $2.4b is under finance for the purchase of new dwellings (up 1.6%); and mortgages on established dwellings also rose 1.6 per cent to $43.7b.

The positive growth for the housing finance market will come as welcome news for the wider property sector, with investment finance figures in particular showing negative growth in the month of November 2010.

The report states that the flooding disasters in Queensland and Victoria had no effect on the December data, but expects the next report for the January 2011 period to show the impacts.