First Home Buyers Increased in 2014
New data reveals there’s a big increase in first home buyers, suggesting that the first home buyer ‘problem’ is not as big as anyone thinks it to be. According to data from the Australian Bureau of Statistics, first home buyers represented 14.5 per cent of the housing finance commitments in December 2014. In December 2013, that share was only recorded at 12.7 per cent.
Note that this is the first housing finance data released by the ABS after they admitted to committing a methodology error that led to a 26 per cent inaccuracy in first home buyer statistics. Amanda Lynch from the Real Estate Institute of Australia states that the numbers can only do so little to ease the concerns about the first home buyers’ numbers.
Diwa Hopkins, an economist from the Housing Industry Assoication, said that housing construction loans finished strong in 2014, indicating that investors are more likely to continue to play an important role in adding to the new housing stock in 2015. The total housing finance commitments increased by 13.1 per cent year-on-year to $12.6 billion.
Read the article by clicking on the link here.
My opinion
The strong growth or increase of first home buyers in 2014 reflects just how much people are willing to buy new homes for the first time. Given the housing crisis that Australia is currently facing, it may be easier to buy new homes this year.
