Australia’s housing market starts 2016 on a stronger note, but slowly cooling from 2015 peaks

Australia’s housing finance for February increased. Growth was recorded throughout all segments of home buyer. Even if the rise was not sufficient to counter the drop in the earlier two months, February’s data shows stronger housing demand and supports the evidence that Australia’s housing market has started 2016 on a stronger note, according to ANZ.

In February, investors recorded the most solid growth throughout all home buyer segments. This is the third straight month where investors performed better than owner-occupiers. It seems that investor demand has rebounded after the recent headwinds from macro-prudential policy measures that were put into effect in 2015, noted ANZ.

The total rebound in February’s housing finance data is largely in line with other indicators of housing market. House price growth and auction clearance rates have stabilized. The recovery in sales market indicators shows strong demand for housing and implies that any threat of considerable decline in the housing market continues to be low, added ANZ. However, the market is likely cooling gradually from 2015’s peaks, according to ANZ.

“We expect to see this general cooling evidenced by weak growth in housing construction activity through 2016, given the trend decline in new building approvals over the past year”, added ANZ.