Australia - Housing finance data for January
Home loans -3.9% m/m,
- expected -3.0%, prior was +2.7%, revised higher from +2.6%
Investment lending -1.6% m/m,
- prior was -0.1%, revised from +0.6%
Owner-occupied loan value -4.3% m/m,
- prior was -0.2%, revised down from +0.9%
The data is suggestive of some of the heat coming out of the market. the latest data show that house price rises continued in January but at a slower rate (February Corelogic RP Data House Price: +0.5% m/m (prior +0.9%)).
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Here's the take from WPAC:
- January update on housing finance approvals was uniformly weak
- It should be noted at the outset that housing data is notoriously unreliable over January with the Christmas holiday period making month to month moves more prone to big changes and revisions.
- Overall, the numbers show a broad-based weakening in momentum although the aforementioned issues with January data mean we will need another month or two to get a firm handle on whether we are seeing a more rapid slowdown.
