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More grim news for first home buyers

by Staff Reporter7 minute read

First home buyer numbers have taken a big fall in the past year, according to the Australian Bureau of Statistics.

New buyers represented 12.3 per cent of owner-occupied finance commitments in April – down from 14.3 per cent in April 2013 and 12.6 per cent in March.

The average loan size for first home buyers was $300,900, which marked a 4 per cent increase on the year before but a 0.6 per cent decline on the previous month.

There were also 52,109 dwelling commitments for owner-occupied housing, with 83 per cent being for the purchase of established dwellings, 12 per cent for the construction of new dwellings and 5 per cent for the purchase of new dwellings.

The Australian Bureau of Statistics also reported $27.9 billion of finance commitments for May – up 22.6 per cent annually and 1.7 per cent monthly.

The owner-occupied share of those commitments was $16.9 billion, which marked a 15.8 per cent annual increase and 1.4 per cent monthly increase.

Finance commitments for investors reached $11 billion, which was a 34.9 per cent jump on the year before and a 2.3 per cent rise on the previous month.

[Related: ABS finds Australia wealthier but not fairer]

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