Slow-road-to-returning-confidence
11th June 2009 | category [ Articles ]
There is talk of confidence returning
to the market place, but figures
just released show past months
not travelling so well
The ANZ Banks survey of job advertisements which was released this week
showed a fall for the 13th consecutive month. The result now indicates a reduction
across those jobs advertised on the internet and newspapers of 49.9%
during the last 12 months.
Results for May suggest that each state and territory except Tasmania and
Western Australia recorded a decline during the month. These results were
to be expected given that consumer and business confidence remained at
very low levels through the month of May.
Housing finance commitments data released this week found that first home
buyers as a percentage of all owner occupied finance commitments increased
to 28%, the highest on record. The interesting detail to note within the statistics
is that in each state and territory the actual number of finance commitments for
first home buyers fell, except in Victoria where they recorded an increase of 0.9%.
The greatest fall in first home buyer finance commitments was witnessed in
Tasmania where they fell 26.1% in April compared to the previous month.
These results lend credence to a number of reports that suggest first home
buyer demand may have peaked. In saying this, first home buyer finance
commitments have still witnessed an exceptional increase on an annual basis
in each state and territory varying between a 50.3% increase in Western
Australia and a 123.4% increase in the Australian Capital Territory.
This same data also shows that during April 2009 commitments for investment
property accounted for 25.5% of all finance commitments. Although this figure
remains low on a historical basis, it represents a marked increase on the March
2009 figures when investor finance accounted for just 24.1% of all commitments.
A great deal of first home buyers are now struggling to get a pre approval on
finance let alone getting formal approval. There is such a backlog of loan
applications many are going to find that time is going to run out before they
get formal approval on their finance and have the opportunity to buy, and
thus receive the grant. keep in ming the grant will begin to wind back in October
RP Data Property Pulse
11/06/09