FSBO Real Estate Blog

The latest housing finance data released by the Australian Bureau of Statistics shows a drop in the proportion of owner occupier mortgages to first home buyers from 27.1% in June to 25.7% in July. The reduction in first home buyer commitments indicates that the boosted FHBG and it’s original deadline of 30 June pulled forward demand from first home buyers helping to create a price bubble in the sub $500K real estate market. Demand at this level remains strong with mortgage interest rates at historic lows and the FHBG extended until the end of the year. The government and many other will be hoping that investors are in a position to pick up the baton from first home buyers to maintain demand in 2010.

 The total value of owner occupied mortgage commitments rose 0.8% from June 2009, while the seasonally adjusted series for the value of owner occupied mortgage commitments decreased 1.7% in July 2009. Much of the 0.8% increase was driven by finance commitments for the construction of dwellings for owner occupation which rose 2.6% in July 2009 compared with June 2009 while the seasonally adjusted series fell 0.7%.