Just short of half of the home loans processed in NSW last month were for investors, according to AFG.
Australia’s largest mortgage broker claims that 49.5% of August home loans were for investors, the highest level of investor activity ever recorded for any state.
The result came amid high investor participation in other parts of the country. Investors comprised 36.7% of new home loans processed in Victoria, 35.8% in Queensland, 32.9% in South Australia and 28.4% in Western Australia.
ABS figures confirm that AFG has 10% of the total home loan market and trends it reports are usually confirmed by ABS statistics six weeks later.
AFG spokesperson Mark Hewitt said a lot of investors have entered the property market in anticipation of a new cycle of growth, but lacklustre first homebuyer activity also had an impact.
“The NSW figure is very strong, but in part this is because two thirds of first home buyers exited the market after the withdrawal of buyers’ grants,” Hewitt said.
He added that a decisive result from next weekend’s election should support the return of broader-based confidence across the country.
Along with unprecedented levels of investor interest, NSW saw the average mortgage size break the $500,000 mark. This compares with average new home loans of $434,000 in NT, $405,000 in WA, $386,000 in Victoria, $352,000 in Queensland and $319,000 in SA.
