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KEY FIGURES

	Trend estimates		Seasonally adjusted estimates
	Mar 2004	Feb 2004 to Mar 2004	Mar 2004	Feb 2004 to Mar 2004
Value of dwelling commitments(a)	$m	% change	$m	% change
Total dwellings	15,105	-3.1	15,370	0.6
Owner occupied housing	9,664	-2.5	9,810	-0.1
Investment housing - fixed loans(b)	5,441	-4.3	5,560	1.9
Number of dwelling commitments(a)	no.	% change	no.	% change
Owner occupied housing	50,266	-3.2	50,157	-1.2
Construction of dwellings	5,096	-1.9	5,052	-2.1
Purchase of new dwellings	1,783	-3.6	1,756	-3.9
Purchase of established dwellings	43,387	-3.3	43,349	-1.0
(a) Includes refinancing.
(b) Excludes revolving credit.

Housing finance, Value of dwellings

Owner occupied housing finance, Number of dwellings

KEY POINTS

TREND ESTIMATES

• Total value of dwelling finance commitments decreased by 3.1% in March 2004. Decreases were recorded in both owner occupied housing (down 2.5%) and investment housing (down 4.3%).
• The number of housing finance commitments for owner occupation declined by 3.2% in March 2004, while the number excluding refinancing declined by 2.9%. The construction finance trend series recorded a decrease of 1.9% in March 2004, the seventh consecutive monthly decrease. There were also decreases in the trend series for purchase of new dwellings (down 3.6%), refinancing (down 3.8%) and the purchase of established dwellings, which fell for the sixth consecutive month (down 3.3%).

• Total value of housing finance commitments increased by 0.6% in March 2004. The owner occupied housing series fell by 0.1%, while investment housing commitments rose by 1.9%.
• The number of housing finance commitments for owner occupied housing decreased by 1.2% in March 2004, driven primarily by the decrease in refinancing of established dwellings (down 1.9%).

• Owner occupied loans to first home buyers was 12.5% of all loans, a record low.
• The average loan value for owner-occupied housing was $197,600 in March 2004, up from the February figure of $190,600.

• a new table on the Value of Finance Commitments for Housing. This new table is similar in content and format to table 8 (Finance Commitments for Housing) published in Lending Finance, Australia (ABS cat. no. 5671.0).
• a new table of home loan outstandings classified by lender. This new table contains monthly data from March 2002 for Authorised Deposit-taking Institutions (ADIs) classified by type of lender and split by owner occupation housing and investment housing. For other lending institutions, total housing loan outstandings is provided on a quarterly basis to provide a complete picture of all financial institutions providing finance for the purpose of housing.
  

A feature article describing the changes in content and concepts in this issue starts on page 9.


INQUIRIES

For further information about these and related statistics, contact the National Information and Referral Service on 1300 135 070 or Darren Page on Canberra (02) 6252 6731.


SUMMARY COMMENTARY

HOUSING FINANCE SUMMARY OF FINDINGS


DWELLINGS FINANCED

Value of Dwelling Finance

The total value of housing commitments excluding alterations and additions (seasonally adjusted) increased by 0.6% in March 2004, after a decrease of 0.9% in February 2004. The trend series decreased by 3.1%.

The total value of owner occupied commitments (seasonally adjusted) fell for the sixth consecutive month, falling by 0.1% in March 2004. The smaller decrease in the value of commitments compared to the decline in number of commitments reflects growth in the average loan size in March. Decreases in refinancing of established dwellings (-1.6%) and purchase of new dwellings (-3.7%) were offset partially by increases in purchase of established dwellings excluding refinancing (0.8%) and construction of dwellings (0.6%). The trend series decreased by 2.5% in March 2004.

The seasonally adjusted series for value of investment housing commitments (including finance for construction and finance for rent or resale) increased by 1.9% in March 2004, after the previous four consecutive monthly decreases. This increase was primarily due to increase in purchase of dwellings for rent or resale by individuals (0.5%). The trend series fell 4.3%.

INVESTMENT HOUSING - TOTAL

There were decreases (seasonally adjusted) in NSW (down 359, -2.2%), Victoria (down 191, -1.7%), SA (down 110, -2.4%), NT (down 8, -1.7%), WA (down 77, -1.1%), and Queensland (down 74, -0.7%). The only increases were Tasmania (up 57, 5.5%) and ACT (up 3, 0.5%). The trend series decreased in March 2004 for all states and territories except the NT.

In original terms, the percentage of first home buyers declined to a record low of 12.5% in March 2004, continuing the general decline since the record high of 25.8% in July 2001.

Bank loans increased by $2 352m (0.6%) during March to a closing stock of $421 833m. Owner Occupied housing loans increased by $1 255m (0.5%) to $278 252m, while investment housing loans increased by $1 097m (0.8%) to $143 581m.