The number of new investment loans for dwellings fell in the December quarter, the first fall since the March quarter 2023. Meanwhile, new home loans (excluding refinancing) rose for the third consecutive quarter, according to data released today from the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS).
Dr Mish Tan, ABS head of finance statistics said, “This is the first quarterly release of Lending Indicators, which contains improved statistics on lending and home loans for the December quarter 2024.”
| Total (seasadj) (no.) | Owner occupier (seasadj) (no.) | Investor (seasadj) (no.) | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Dec-14 | NA | 83,002 | NA |
| Mar-15 | NA | 84,847 | NA |
| Jun-15 | NA | 83,341 | NA |
| Sep-15 | NA | 86,820 | NA |
| Dec-15 | NA | 86,399 | NA |
| Mar-16 | NA | 84,637 | NA |
| Jun-16 | NA | 88,777 | NA |
| Sep-16 | NA | 82,557 | NA |
| Dec-16 | NA | 84,161 | NA |
| Mar-17 | NA | 89,513 | NA |
| Jun-17 | NA | 90,136 | NA |
| Sep-17 | NA | 93,189 | NA |
| Dec-17 | NA | 89,520 | NA |
| Mar-18 | NA | 87,158 | NA |
| Jun-18 | NA | 86,743 | NA |
| Sep-18 | NA | 83,271 | NA |
| Dec-18 | NA | 80,937 | NA |
| Mar-19 | NA | 75,300 | NA |
| Jun-19 | NA | 73,319 | NA |
| Sep-19 | 108,137 | 77,010 | 31,126 |
| Dec-19 | 111,961 | 80,476 | 31,485 |
| Mar-20 | 109,568 | 80,014 | 29,554 |
| Jun-20 | 94,412 | 70,421 | 23,992 |
| Sep-20 | 119,201 | 90,056 | 29,145 |
| Dec-20 | 135,044 | 103,183 | 31,861 |
| Mar-21 | 156,456 | 118,795 | 37,661 |
| Jun-21 | 157,034 | 114,118 | 42,917 |
| Sep-21 | 157,193 | 107,777 | 49,416 |
| Dec-21 | 155,896 | 103,518 | 52,378 |
| Mar-22 | 152,612 | 100,031 | 52,581 |
| Jun-22 | 140,757 | 92,238 | 48,519 |
| Sep-22 | 128,860 | 85,414 | 43,446 |
| Dec-22 | 117,397 | 77,910 | 39,487 |
| Mar-23 | 110,037 | 73,512 | 36,525 |
| Jun-23 | 114,396 | 76,023 | 38,373 |
| Sep-23 | 114,735 | 74,605 | 40,130 |
| Dec-23 | 123,171 | 79,977 | 43,194 |
| Mar-24 | 119,712 | 76,244 | 43,467 |
| Jun-24 | 129,771 | 80,986 | 48,786 |
| Sep-24 | 132,551 | 81,382 | 51,169 |
| Dec-24 | 132,082 | 83,206 | 48,876 |
All series exclude refinancing.
Some series only commenced collection in the September quarter 2019 with the introduction of the Economic and Financial Statistics collection.
Loan commitments for dwellings includes loans for the purpose of ‘Construction of new dwellings’, ‘Purchase of new dwellings’ and ‘Purchase of existing dwellings’. ‘Residential land’ and ‘Alterations and additions’ are available as separate series.
| Total (seasadj) ($b) | Owner occupier (seasadj) ($b) | Investor (seasadj) ($b) | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Dec-14 | 56.77 | 31.36 | 25.41 |
| Mar-15 | 58.18 | 32.23 | 25.95 |
| Jun-15 | 58.33 | 32.22 | 26.11 |
| Sep-15 | 59.72 | 36.49 | 23.23 |
| Dec-15 | 55.70 | 36.75 | 18.95 |
| Mar-16 | 53.26 | 34.69 | 18.58 |
| Jun-16 | 56.22 | 35.94 | 20.28 |
| Sep-16 | 56.56 | 34.53 | 22.02 |
| Dec-16 | 60.05 | 35.64 | 24.41 |
| Mar-17 | 62.64 | 37.47 | 25.17 |
| Jun-17 | 61.04 | 38.16 | 22.88 |
| Sep-17 | 61.45 | 39.60 | 21.85 |
| Dec-17 | 59.39 | 38.97 | 20.42 |
| Mar-18 | 57.77 | 38.74 | 19.03 |
| Jun-18 | 56.71 | 38.92 | 17.79 |
| Sep-18 | 53.97 | 37.03 | 16.94 |
| Dec-18 | 50.33 | 35.05 | 15.27 |
| Mar-19 | 46.22 | 32.57 | 13.65 |
| Jun-19 | 45.29 | 32.37 | 12.92 |
| Sep-19 | 49.99 | 35.49 | 14.49 |
| Dec-19 | 54.42 | 39.28 | 15.15 |
| Mar-20 | 54.53 | 39.77 | 14.76 |
| Jun-20 | 47.13 | 34.98 | 12.16 |
| Sep-20 | 58.32 | 44.05 | 14.27 |
| Dec-20 | 67.54 | 51.48 | 16.05 |
| Mar-21 | 80.59 | 60.52 | 20.07 |
| Jun-21 | 85.92 | 62.18 | 23.75 |
| Sep-21 | 89.54 | 61.91 | 27.63 |
| Dec-21 | 91.31 | 60.84 | 30.47 |
| Mar-22 | 93.39 | 60.75 | 32.64 |
| Jun-22 | 85.36 | 56.10 | 29.26 |
| Sep-22 | 76.69 | 51.21 | 25.49 |
| Dec-22 | 69.56 | 46.37 | 23.19 |
| Mar-23 | 65.78 | 43.45 | 22.34 |
| Jun-23 | 66.86 | 44.10 | 22.76 |
| Sep-23 | 69.00 | 44.52 | 24.48 |
| Dec-23 | 75.20 | 48.65 | 26.54 |
| Mar-24 | 74.83 | 46.83 | 27.99 |
| Jun-24 | 81.68 | 50.84 | 30.84 |
| Sep-24 | 86.01 | 52.61 | 33.41 |
| Dec-24 | 87.23 | 54.81 | 32.43 |
All series exclude refinancing.
Loan commitments for dwellings includes loans for the purpose of ‘Construction of new dwellings’, ‘Purchase of new dwellings’ and ‘Purchase of existing dwellings’. ‘Residential land’ and ‘Alterations and additions’ are available as separate series.
In December quarter 2024 there were 83,206 new home loans approved, a 2.2 per cent (+1,824 loans) rise compared to the previous quarter. The total value of new home loans approved was $54.8 billion, a rise of 4.2 per cent (+$2.2 billion). The average loan size rose by $24,777 to $665,978.
“While the number of new home loans rose in the December quarter, New South Wales partially offset this growth, falling 2.3 per cent, following a fall of 0.4 per cent in the September quarter”.
“Demand for new home loans excluding refinancing rose throughout 2024, despite relatively strong growth in property prices. In original terms, the value of new home loans during the 2024 calendar year reached $205.7 billion. This was 13.6 per cent higher than the $181.0 billion value of new loans in 2023”, Dr Tan said.
The largest increases in value were in Queensland (+19.6 per cent), Victoria (+12.3 per cent) and New South Wales (+10.6 per cent).
The total number of home loans refinanced between lenders in the December quarter was 61,749, a rise of 12.0 per cent compared to the previous quarter. This follows a rise of 4.9 per cent in the September quarter.
In December quarter there were 48,876 new investment loans approved, a fall of 4.5 per cent (-2,293 loans) compared to the previous quarter. The total value of new investment loans was $32.4 billion, a fall of 2.9 per cent (-$1.0 billion). The average loan size rose by $25,065 to $674,316.
“The December quarter fall in the value new investment loans followed a record high of $33.4 billion in the September quarter, which was slightly higher than the COVID-19 peak in March 2022”, Dr Tan said.
“Despite the December quarter fall, the value of new investment loans during the 2024 calendar year in original terms reached $125.1 billion. This was 29.8 per cent higher than the $96.4 billion value of new loans in 2023.
The average size of investment loans increased 7.9 per cent compared to this time last year, despite some moderation in house prices over the second half of 2024″, Dr Tan said.
The strength in investment loans throughout 2024 was driven by New South Wales (+29.3 per cent), Queensland (+40.9 per cent), Western Australia (+55.9 per cent) and South Australia (+40.7 per cent). Excluding South Australia, these states saw the strongest falls in the December quarter.
