|
Mortgage index shows fall in house sales
此文章由 andrewliu1978 原创或转贴,不代表本站立场和观点,版权归 oursteps.com.au 和作者 andrewliu1978 所有!转贴必须注明作者、出处和本声明,并保持内容完整
Wednesday September 3, 2008, 12:34 pm
Property buyers sat on the sidelines last month, as they waited to see if the central bank would cut interest rates, a survey shows.
The Australian Finance Group (AFG) mortgage index shows the number of mortgages sold fell by 17 per cent per cent to 5,770 in August, after robust growth in July.
Volumes slipped 20 per cent to $1.91 billion and fell below $2 billion for the first time since in almost two years, or since December 2006.
AFG, Australia's largest mortgage brokers, said potential borrowers were waiting to see what the Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) would do, amid speculation last month that it would cut interest rates.
The RBA on Tuesday lowered the official cash rate by 25 basis points to seven per cent.
The decision pushed the big bank lenders to reduce their standard variable home loan rates by the same amount.
"Yesterday's cut is a welcome signal that the rate cycle is on the way down and it was great that the banks have passed the full reduction on," AFG general manager of sales and operations Mark Hewitt said.
"But borrowers have suffered death by a thousand cuts over the last seven years of rate rises, and it will take more than one 25 basis point drop to see confidence return to property markets."
The AFG mortgage index also illustrated the high expectations of consumers about future rate cuts.
Only 4.9 per cent of new mortgage buyers opted for fixed rate mortgages in August.
That compared to a peak of 25.3 per cent for fixed rate mortgage sales in February.
Mortgage sales in New South Wales fell 31 per cent in August, compared to July, AFG said in statement.
Western Australia sales fall by 19.9 per cent while Victoria recorded an 18.4 per cent fall.
Queensland was least affected, with sales falling by 10.8 per cent.
Property investors, who make up 30 per cent of new mortgage buyers, remained constant suggesting that long term confidence in the underlying value of property markets remains strong, AFG said. |
|