The average Aussie loan size is at a record high as rates stick to start 2024
The average Aussie home loan is $300,000 more than it was 10 years and at a record high, as the cash rate holds firm to start 2024.
The Reserve Bank of Australia did not pull any surprises, keeping the nation’s cash rate at 4.35 per cent, as forecast, at its first meeting of the year on February 6.
Fresh data shows the typical Aussie loan size right now is $624,383, but it was down to $580,240 at the end of last financial year.
The fluctuating fortunes of mortgage holders is laid bare by the Australia Bureau of Statistics figures, released on February 2.
Month-on-month, the average loan size went up from $608,448 in November 2023 to $624,383 in December 2024 – the highest it has been since records for this data started in December 2005. That month and year, the average national loan size was $255,340.
In February 2013, the average home loan was $348,112.
Real estate industry experts say the rate hold will solidify the certainty and confidence that returned to the market after a rolling series of rate hikes in 2022 and 2023.
Little Real Estate’s general manager of sales James Kirkland tells Nine he expects sidelined buyers will enter the market in this stable environment, beginning to install a semblance of balance and normality.
“It is a very different summer (in the market) to what we had last year. The word stability is an accurate way to describe it, on both the seller and buyer front, and that has meant much greater liquidity in the market in both December and January,” he says.
“I would say this hold would only propel that forward, particularly on the buying front. On borrowing capacity and the question mark of, ‘is there more’, I think this is a clean and clear signal that we have reached the top.
“We are expecting to see heavy buyer enquiry, and there has been anticipation of that across the market.”
He said his agency’s data shows over January and December there was a 56 per cent increase in listing volumes, and a 33 per cent uptick in sales volumes, compared to the same time 12 months ago.
Mathew Tiller, LJ Hooker Group’s head of research and business intelligence, said in a statement that households are holding back on non-discretionary spending.
He said ABS inflation data is “strongly indicating” that the RBA is unlikely to lift rates again this year.
Tiller said rate-cut speculation may stimulate buyers. It has been widely mooted this could happen in August, but he said it could be as early as May.
“The talk is now about when they are going to cut interest rates and as this circulates buyers will think rates have peaked and will start looking for the bottom of the market which could bring further activity,” he said.
Ray White’s chief economist Nerida Conisbee said in a statement following the rate announcement: “For mortgage holders, today’s announcement will be welcome but still does not provide much relief.
“A decline in rates, the first of which is expected sometime in the first half of the year, can’t come soon enough.”
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