AUGUST KEY FIGURES

	Trend estimates		Seasonally adjusted estimates
	Aug 2015	Jul 2015 to Aug 2015	Aug 2015	Jul 2015 to Aug 2015
Value of dwelling commitments(a)(b)
	$m	% change	$m	% change
Total dwellings	33 696	1.0	34 359	3.5
Owner occupied housing	20 017	1.9	20 795	6.1
Investment housing - fixed loans(c)	13 679	-0.2	13 564	-0.4
Number of dwelling commitments(a)(b)
	no.	% change	no.	% change
Owner occupied housing	54 546	0.5	55 677	2.9
Construction of dwellings	5 693	-0.5	5 784	2.4
Purchase of new dwellings	2 824	0.6	2 874	2.7
Purchase of established dwellings	46 029	0.6	47 019	3.0
(a) Includes refinancing (see Glossary).
(b) Excludes alterations and additions.
(c) Excludes revolving credit.

Value of dwelling commitments, Total dwellings

No. of dwelling commitments, Owner occupied housing

AUGUST KEY POINTS


VALUE OF DWELLING COMMITMENTS

August 2015 compared with July 2015:

• The trend estimate for the total value of dwelling finance commitments excluding alterations and additions rose 1.0%. Owner occupied housing commitments rose 1.9% while investment housing commitments fell 0.2%.
• In seasonally adjusted terms, the total value of dwelling finance commitments excluding alterations and additions rose 3.5%.

NUMBER OF DWELLING COMMITMENTS

August 2015 compared with July 2015:

• In trend terms, the number of commitments for owner occupied housing finance rose 0.5% in August 2015.
• In trend terms, the number of commitments for the purchase of established dwellings rose 0.6% and the number of commitments for the purchase of new dwellings rose 0.6%, while the number of commitments for the construction of dwellings fell 0.5%.
• In original terms, the number of first home buyer commitments as a percentage of total owner occupied housing finance commitments rose to 15.7% in August 2015 from 15.4% in July 2015.

NOTES

FORTHCOMING ISSUES

ISSUE	Release Date
September 2015	10 November 2015
October 2015	9 December 2015
November 2015	15 January 2016
December 2015	12 February 2016
January 2016	9 March 2016
February 2016	11 April 2016

REVISIONS

In this issue revisions have been made to the original series as a result of improved reporting of survey and administrative data, and updated first home buyer modelled estimates. These revisions have impacted on:

• First home buyers owner occupied housing for periods December 2012 to July 2015
• Owner occupied housing for periods December 2012 to July 2015
• Investment housing for periods December 2012 to July 2015
• Housing loan outstandings to households; owner-occupied and investment housing: for periods from December 2012 to July 2015.

FIRST HOME BUYERS

Monthly First Home Buyer statistics will be subject to future revision, as the modelled component is adjusted to reflect improved reporting by lenders. Information relating to changes to the method of estimating loans to first home buyers, introduced from the December 2014 issue can be found under the First Home Buyers web page and on Page 5 of the PDF.


CHANGES IN THIS ISSUE

Market reactions to recent regulatory measures have resulted in increased volatility in some of the seasonally adjusted estimates included in this publication, in particular the value of finance commitments for owner occupied housing and investor housing. Care should be taken in interpreting the movements for this reference period, as the seasonally adjusted estimates may be revised with the addition of future reference periods.

In addition, this month some banks have reclassified housing loans that originated as investment loans to owner occupied. This reclassification impacts only Table 12 Housing Loan Outstandings to Households and will affect the growth rates for July and August 2015.


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