The RBA's latest Position

Business Spectator 18 March 2009
Chris Joyce


The RBA Board’s recent summary of developments in Australia’s housing market, which were included in the board’s minutes (they appear to confirm a lot of what has been said previously here):



“In the housing sector, building approvals fell sharply in the second half of 2008, which implied that residential construction activity would fall during the early part of this year. Declines in house prices in the past few months had mainly been in the more expensive suburbs, with prices in other suburbs appearing to level out. In a sign of increased demand for housing, patterns of housing finance indicated an increase in housing loan approvals of about 10 per cent over the past few months, partly spurred by the increased incentives for first home buyers to enter the market.


However, credit growth had remained low as borrowers had evidently taken advantage of the extra cash flows created by lower lending interest rates to increase debt repayments. Further signs of an increased level of activity in the secondary housing market were significant rises in auction clearance rates in both Sydney and Melbourne in February, and a component of the Westpac-Melbourne Institute consumer sentiment survey indicated that current conditions were conducive to buying a dwelling.”





First Home Loan Specialists Comment


This article supports the claim that it is currently a great time to buy a property particularly your first home. The First Home Owners Scheme increased assistance runs out in a little over 3 months on 30 June 2009. Now is the time to get educated in the home buying process and buy that first home.




Greg Brierley
Principal