Home lending to plummet in 2010
DEMAND for home loans set to decline as interest rates rise and investors stay on the sidelines.
DEMAND for home loans is set to decline in the year ahead as interest rates rise and investors stay on the sidelines, a report says.
The value of all new home loans was expected to fall by $14.4 billion in the 12 months to September 2010, down 8.8 per cent from the same period a year earlier, a report by independent consultants Market Intelligence Strategy Centre (MISC) says.
"This will reflect a slower return of investor lending and still strained funding, which will restrict small-lender activity, as well as further rate increases,'' the MISC report released today said.
An MISC spokesman said the $14.4 billion decline, if realised, would be the largest total fall since 2003, when the value of all new home loans written backpedalled by about $35 billion.
The bulk of the contraction was expected to take place in the December and March quarters, before the housing market returns to growth in June next year.
"The bottom of the market will not be reached till the March 2010 quarter,'' the report said.
"MISC believes this quarter will see the lowest point in new mortgage demand for the 2010 year and that June and September quarters will show positive growth, albeit still far less than 2009 experience.''
The Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) has lifted the cash rate at its past three meetings to 3.75 per cent, and market economists anticipate further rate hikes in 2010.
Data from MISC, which conducts research on behalf of the banks, found the value of all new home loans written fell by 5.9 per cent in the September quarter.
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It was the first contraction in five quarters as lending was negatively influenced by tighter lending criteria, higher loan-to-valuation ratios and increased rates on fixed rate home loans.
The MISC report also said that rising house prices had eroded the effect of the boost to the first home owner grant, which ends on December 31.
The Federal Government grant currently provides $10,500 for those buying a home and $14,000 for those building a home or buying a new home.