HOUSING FINANCE


HOUSING FINANCE COMMITMENTS

In trend terms, the total value of housing finance commitments (owner occupation) in South Australia in March 2009 was $1,122m, an increase of 3.4% from $1,085m in February 2009. Nationally, the value of housing finance commitments for owner occupation grew by 3.4% from $14,755m in February 2009 to $15,251m in March 2009.

In March 2009, the average home loan size for owner occupied dwellings in South Australia was $210,700, which was significantly lower than the average home loan size for Australia ($263,200).

In March 2009, the average loan size for first home buyers in South Australia was $268,400, which was 36.5% higher than the average loan size for non-first home buyers ($196,700). Since April 2008, the average loan size for first home buyers has increased 36.3% while the average loan size for non-first home buyers has increased 1.1%. The non-first home buyers category of loans includes loans for purchasing housing and the refinancing of existing loans. The latter type are smaller in size and refer to refinancing with a different lender, but with the security unchanged. The increasing divergence between the average loan sizes for first home buyers and non-first home buyers seen after April 2008 can in part be attributed to the increasing contribution of smaller refinancing loans to the non-first home buyers category. For further information, please refer to the Housing Finance: First Home Buyers and Other Borrowers article in the April 2009 issue of SA Stats.

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