AUGUST KEY FIGURES

	Trend estimates		Seasonally adjusted estimates
	Aug 2014	Jul 2014 to Aug 2014	Aug 2014	Jul 2014 to Aug 2014
Value of dwelling commitments(a)(b)
	$m	% change	$m	% change
Total dwellings	28 067	0.3	28 006	-1.2
Owner occupied housing	16 820	-0.1	16 631	-2.0
Investment housing - fixed loans(c)	11 247	0.9	11 375	-0.1
Number of dwelling commitments(a)(b)
	no.	% change	no.	% change
Owner occupied housing	51 967	-0.2	51 787	-0.9
Construction of dwellings	6 149	-0.2	6 096	-0.8
Purchase of new dwellings	2 918	1.7	2 952	2.5
Purchase of established dwellings	42 900	-0.3	42 739	-1.1
(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 2014 compared with July 2014:

• The trend estimate for the total value of dwelling finance commitments excluding alterations and additions rose 0.3%. Investment housing commitments rose 0.9% while owner occupied housing commitments fell 0.1%.
• In seasonally adjusted terms, the total value of dwelling finance commitments excluding alterations and additions fell 1.2%.

NUMBER OF DWELLING COMMITMENTS

August 2014 compared with July 2014:

• In trend terms, the number of commitments for owner occupied housing finance fell 0.2% in August 2014.
• In trend terms, the number of commitments for the purchase of established dwellings fell 0.3% and the number of commitments for the construction of dwellings fell 0.2%, while the number of commitments for the purchase of new dwellings rose 1.7%.
• In original terms, the number of first home buyer commitments as a percentage of total owner occupied housing finance commitments fell to 11.8% in August 2014 from 12.2% in July 2014.

NOTES

FORTHCOMING ISSUES

ISSUE	Release Date
September 2014	10 November 2014
October 2014	10 December 2014
November 2014	12 January 2015
December 2014	11 February 2015
January 2015	11 March 2015
February 2015	10 April 2015

REVISIONS

In this issue revisions have been made to the original series as a result of improved reporting of survey and administrative data. These revisions have impacted on:

• Investment housing for July 2014
• Housing loan outstandings to households for July 2014

Seasonally adjusted and trend series have been revised as a result of the incorporation of estimates for the latest month and the revision of seasonal factors due to the concurrent seasonal adjustment methodology.


FIRST HOME BUYERS

A preliminary investigation has been conducted to evaluate the robustness of estimates of loans to first home buyers (Table 9). In collecting this information, lenders are asked to report all loans to first home buyers. Concerns have been raised that under-reporting could occur if some lenders were only able to accurately report on those buyers receiving a first home buyer grant.

Most data on first home buyers are collected by the Australian Prudential Regulation Authority (APRA) under the Financial Sector (Collection of Data) Act 2001. The investigation indicates that some lenders experience difficulty reporting on loans where the buyer is not receiving a first home buyers grant. Estimates of loans to first home buyers (Table 9) are therefore under review and users are advised to exercise caution in referencing this data.

The ABS is working with APRA to explore options to make it easier for lenders to report correctly in future. In the meantime, the ABS is further investigating the potential for under reporting first home buyer data and the feasibility, if necessary, of estimating the extent of under reporting and adjusting the first home buyers estimates accordingly. The outcomes from the investigation will be published on the ABS website.


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INQUIRIES

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