HOUSING FINANCE


HOUSING FINANCE COMMITMENTS

The trend estimate of the total value of housing finance commitments (owner occupation) in South Australia rose slightly in November 2010 to $875m. The November estimate is 0.9% higher than the previous month, but is 26.1% lower than the peak value of housing finance commitments recorded in June 2009 ($1,185m). Nationally, the value of housing finance commitments for owner occupation was $14,202m in November 2010; 1.1% higher than October 2010 but 17.1% lower than the peak recorded in June 2009 ($17,127m).

After a period of divergence, there was no distinction between the average loan commitment for first and non-first home buyers in November 2010, and were therefore equal to the average home loan size for owner occupied dwellings at $233,500.

The November 2010 estimate for the average home loan size for owner occupied dwellings increased 1.7% over the previous month, but was 18.7% lower than the average home loan size for Australia ($287,300). The average loan commitment for first home buyers in South Australia fell 3.3% over the previous month, whilst the average loan size for non-firsts home buyers rose 2.4% over the same period.

For information on the house price index, please refer to the ' Price Indexes' topic.