Data Diary

ABS released housing finance data for July yesterday (here) – following is their summary of the stats: Looks okay I guess – and that was the general response from our mainstream media (see the ABC’s coverage “Housing finance rises in July – but caution remains). As Westpac senior economist, Andrew Hanlan, said “It’s probably best [...]

RBA financial aggregates for July were released yesterday (here) – in brief: Housing credit increased by 0.5 per cent over July. Over the year to July, housing credit rose by 8.1 per cent. Other personal credit was flat over July. Over the year to July, other personal credit increased by 3.2 per cent. Business credit [...]

The RBA in its latest Bulletin wrote a short analysis of the recent impact of first home buyers on the housing market (here).  Following on from the update on housing finance, thought these charts were interesting: Go figure, the younger you are, the more likely you’ll have a mortgage.  It is clear from this which [...]

ABS data for housing finance was released yesterday (find it here). First home buyers as a proportion of the total market appear to be stabilising at these subdued levels: This is partly been driven by the fall in the total number of loans being undertaken: But commensurate with lofty house prices, the average size of [...]

The RBA published the monetary aggregates yesterday (here).  M3 is threatening to join it’s international brethren: While the US has been struggling with a contracting money supply, Australia remains in positive territory.  Still with the credit creation machine at its apex from a housing perspective and our funding needs likely to require more homegrown capital [...]

ABS Australian Housing Finance data for March 2010 released today (you can find it here). I’m pretty confident in saying that we have passed the peak in housing prices – with the caveat being that the government can always throw more of our money at the fire to get it going again. First up, the [...]

Playing catch-up on this – the RBA released the financial aggregates data for March 2010 last Friday (see here). Housing finance still rising the escalator – up 8.5% for the year to March and 0.7% for month: While business credit remains stubbornly in contraction mode – down 6.9% for the year to March. And M3 [...]

The ‘Australian housing bubble’ chorus has grown in voice recently – the IMF and the RBA, hedge funds and ‘traditional’ funds managers have all been questioning the recent price action in Australian housing.  With the Fairfax stable running a week long feature on the housing market in their various papers – the sentiment gauge is [...]

ABS Housing Finance for Feb10 was released today (here). While the newspapers have been bleating about record house prices and clearance rates, lending volumes continue to slow. The number of housing loans to both first home buyers and the rest of us is now well off the peak. Non First Home Buyers borrowing by number [...]

The RBA released lending and finance data for February today (here). The growth in housing credit remains the highlight – with business credit also looking like it is ready to turn the corner: Housing has all the feel of a speculative surge – with record volumes and clearance rates – for commentary brought to you [...]