MAY KEY FIGURES

	Trend estimates		Seasonally adjusted estimates
	May 2016	Apr 2016 to May 2016	May 2016	Apr 2016 to May 2016
Value of dwelling commitments(a)(b)
	$m	% change	$m	% change
Total dwellings	32 139	-0.4	32 271	1.0
Owner occupied housing	20 500	-0.6	20 526	-0.6
Investment housing - fixed loans(c)	11 639	-0.1	11 745	3.9
Number of dwelling commitments(a)(b)
	no.	% change	no.	% change
Owner occupied housing	56 697	-0.2	56 648	-1.0
Construction of dwellings	5 626	-0.9	5 605	-2.7
Purchase of new dwellings	2 536	-2.3	2 615	0.4
Purchase of established dwellings	48 535	0.0	48 429	-0.9
(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

MAY KEY POINTS


VALUE OF DWELLING COMMITMENTS

May 2016 compared with April 2016:

• The trend estimate for the total value of dwelling finance commitments excluding alterations and additions fell 0.4%. Owner occupied housing commitments fell 0.6%, and investment housing commitments fell 0.1%.
• In seasonally adjusted terms, the total value of dwelling finance commitments excluding alterations and additions rose 1.0%.

NUMBER OF DWELLING COMMITMENTS

May 2016 compared with April 2016:

• In trend terms, the number of commitments for owner occupied housing finance fell 0.2% in May 2016.
• In trend terms, the number of commitments for the purchase of new dwellings fell 2.3%, the number of commitments for the construction of dwellings fell 0.9%, while the number of commitments for the purchase of established dwellings excluding refinancing fell 0.1%.
• In original terms, the number of first home buyer commitments as a percentage of total owner occupied housing finance commitments fell to 13.9% in May 2016 from 14.4% in April 2016. Refer to FIRST HOME BUYERS note on page 2.

NOTES

FORTHCOMING ISSUES

ISSUE	Release Date
June 2016	10 August 2016
July 2016	9 September 2016
August 2016	11 October 2016
September 2016	10 November 2016
October 2016	9 December 2016
November 2016	17 January 2017

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 affected the following series:

• Owner occupied housing for period January 2016 to April 2016.
• Investment housing for period January 2016 to April 2016.
• Housing loan outstandings to households; owner-occupied and investment housing: for period March 2015 to April 2016.

FIRST HOME BUYERS

Monthly First Home Buyer statistics will be subject to revision as the modelled component is adjusted to reflect improved reporting by lenders. The ABS is currently investigating the effect of improved reporting on the model and, subject to all institutions providing improved data, expects to revise First Home Buyer statistics in coming months. The revisions will be preceded by an Information Paper explaining the changes. 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. First home buyers are defined as persons entering the home ownership market as owner-occupiers for the first time. First time investors are excluded.


CHANGES IN THIS ISSUE

This month a building society which converted to a bank is excluded from all aggregate commitments. The effect on the banks' series in Tables 3 and 4 is insignificant. Revisions will be included in the next issue of this publication.


PRIVACY

The ABS Privacy Policy outlines how the ABS will handle any personal information that you provide to the ABS.


INQUIRIES

For further information about these and related statistics, contact the National Information and Referral Service on 1300 135 070.