Australia: Broad-based fall in housing finance approvals in late 2018 - Westpac
Matthew Hassan, analyst at Westpac, notes that Australian housing finance approvals posted a very weak finish to 2018 with sizeable declines across all components as the headline number of owner occupier loans fell 6.1%, much weaker than the consensus forecast of a 2% decline.
Key Quotes
“Ex-refi, the number of approvals were down a hefty 8.2% in the final month of 2018, to be off 14.4% for the year. Notably, what was initially an investor-led cycle is now seeing clear weakness in owner occupier activity – both the value and number of loans.”
“The combined total value of housing finance approvals including investors but excluding refi declined 5.9%mth to be down 19.8%yr.”
“Construction finance approvals fared a little better, recording a 2.4% decline but still down over 10% for the full year. Approvals for the purchase of newly built dwellings, including 'off the plan apartment sales' were down more sharply, –5.5%mth, –20.2%yr.”
“All up, the December finance approvals data shows a very weak finish to 2018 with weakness coming across the board, confirming the message from other market measures.”
Author
Sandeep Kanihama
FXStreet Contributor
Sandeep Kanihama is an FX Editor and Analyst with FXstreet having principally focus area on Asia and European markets with commodity, currency and equities coverage. He is stationed in the Indian capital city of Delhi.
