First-home buyer activity in the housing finance market fell heavily last year. According to Australian Bureau of Statistics figures released yesterday, the number of first-home buyer loans fell from 10,264 in December 2011 to 6,557 in December last year – a 36 per cent fall.
As a proportion of total housing finance activity, first-home buyers fell from 21.1 per cent to 14.9 per cent over the same period.
This fall has been attributed to changes in first-home owner grant schemes in several states last year, where governments have restricted the grants to the purchase of newly built houses.
Source: Banking Day
