Queensland first home buyer numbers increasing

First home buyer activity in Queensland continues to increase reflecting rising confidence in this market sector over the past year.

Latest ABS data reports that 1631 first home buyer loans were approved over September – an increase of 10.8 per cent over the 1472 approved over August. 13,817 first home buyer loans have been approved over the first nine months of this year which is an increase of 267 or 2 per cent higher than the 13,550 recorded over the same period last year.

The average first home buyer loan increased to a new record high over September and at $300,400 was 3.3 per cent higher than the average loan for this group recorded over the same month last year.

First home buyers accounted for 11 per cent of all residential lending over September which is the highest monthly market share recorded since February.

Although Queensland first home buyer home loan market share is rising it still remains below the local long-term average of 15.6 per cent.

Total lending for owner-occupiers excluding home loan refinancing in the territory soared to $2.61 billion over September – up by 10.5 per cent over the month. This was the highest monthly total ever recorded by QLD.

The value of lending to this group is now 4.5 per cent higher over the first nine months of this year compared with the same period a year ago.

Dr Andrew Wilson is Domain Group Senior Economist Twitter@DocAndrewWilson