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First home buyers growing in strength

Another rise in lending to first home buyers was the high point in housing finance news released this week by the Bureau of Statistics.

The figures show that the number of commitments for owner-occupied housing finance fell 0.5 per cent in June 2018, in trend terms.

Lending to buy new dwellings fell 1.1 per cent, while the number of loans to buy established dwellings fell 0.4 per cent. Building fared little better, with the number of loans for the construction of dwellings falling 0.4 per cent.

The total value of dwelling finance commitments excluding alterations and additions fell 0.7 per cent, in trend terms. Owner-occupied housing commitments fell 0.2 per cent and investment housing commitments fell 1.8 per cent.

The number of first home buyer commitments as a percentage of total owner-occupied housing finance commitments rose to 18.1 per cent in June 2018 from 17.6 per cent the previous month.