Apr 13, 2010

Home loan demand falls for fifth month

DEMAND for home loans continued to wane in February, even before the two latest interest rate increases, data released today shows.  Just 50,287 mortgages were granted to owner-occupiers in February, down by a seasonally-adjusted 1.8 per cent compared to January, the fifth consecutive month of decline, Australian Bureau of Statistics data shows.
Economists' forecasts had centred on 1 per cent fall in February home loan commitments.
In trend terms - which the ABS says is a more reliable indicator of underlying movement in the data - the total value of dwelling finance commitments excluding alterations and additions decreased 2.1 per cent in February.
ICAP economist Adam Carr said the lending data would concern the RBA, causing the Bank to reassess the pace of future interest rate rises.

"It's pointing to a sharp, broad-based decline in lending activity," Mr Carr said.


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Apr 6, 2010

Melbourne house price jump leads nation

MELBOURNE'S house prices have outperformed every city in Australia, new benchmark real estate figures show.

According to RP Data-Rismark's Australian housing report, released yesterday, in the three months to the end of February, Melbourne's property prices grew 5.4 per cent.
In the same quarter property in Darwin increased 4.2 per cent, the Sydney market was up 3.8 per cent and Adelaide rose 2.5 per cent.
Over the year to February, Melbourne's prices were up an impressive 19.9 per cent.

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