As expected, housing commitment is weakening even further, evident through the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) Lending Indicators July report:

• New home loans dropped 8.5% in July, making it the second-fasted fall rate in two decades.
• New owner-occupier home loan down 7%.
• Investor financing hit a decline of 11.2%.
• Owner-occupier refinancing fell by just 1.9% to $12.4bn.
• New loan commitments to first home buyers fell by 10.7%, down 35.9% compared to July 2021.

Even though there is a drop in borrowing activity, loan commitment is still relatively high. In July 2022 owner occupier loans were 40% higher and investor loans 78% higher than February 2020.

Source: Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) Lending Indicator June report, released September 1, 2022.