Australian home investment loans increased by 3.5% in the June quarter, while new occupier loans rose by 0.9%, according to Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) data.
ABS Head of Finance Statistics Mish Tan said the June quarter’s overall rise in home loans followed a fall in the March quarter.
“Through the year growth was more subdued at around 0.2 per cent. That said, lending activity is still at relatively high levels,” Tan said.
“While there were rate cuts in February and May, we will not see the full impact of these on new home lending activity until later in the year.”
Lending to owner occupiers
In the June quarter 80,929 new owner occupier loans were made, a 0.9% rise from the previous quarter.
The total value of the loans rose 2.4% to A$54.7 billion, with the average loan reaching A$678,011.
Tan said while the number of occupier loans was slightly lower than the same time last year, they still grew by 7.4%.
“The average loan size has grown by 7.5 % since the June quarter 2024,” Tan said.
“This was consistent with higher property prices, noting growth has been stronger in Queensland, South Australia and Western Australia.”
The growth in the number of loans was driven by Queensland, with 255 loans, followed by South Australia with 137 loans.
Tasmania and the Northern Territory also drove the number of loans higher with 59 and 57 loans respectively.
“The total number of loans refinanced between lenders rose by 175 (0.3 per cent) to 65,205 in the June quarter and was 24.1 per cent higher than this time last year,” Tan said.
Lending to investors
Approved investment loans increased by 3.5% from the previous quarter to 49,065.
Tan said this growth followed two consecutive months of quarterly falls.
“While annual growth slowed to 0.8 per cent from 27.0 per cent in the June quarter 2024, the number of new loans remained historically high,” Tan said.
The value of the loans saw a 1.4% rise to A$32.9 billion, and the average loan size rose by A$1,013 to A$674,259.
The Northern Territory had the largest increase in investment loans, rising by 21.1% to 96 loans, and Western Australia rose by 1.4% to 85 loans.
