Investor confidence continues to grow according to new data, with signs that the property market has well and truly turned the corner.
One of Australia’s largest mortgage brokers, Australian Finance Group (AFG) figures show that the proportion of loans taken by investors rose to 29% in June. This was the third consecutive month of increases and is in line with AFG’s long-term norm of 30-35% of all mortgages sold.
Conversely, first home homebuyers’ mortgages dropped by 30% since their peak in March this year with June recording 19.5% of first homebuyer mortgages compared to 28.1% three months earlier. Again, this is now trending to the AFG norm for the first homebuyer sector of 10-15%.
AFG is the first to report a notable decrease in first homebuyer activity and increase in the investor sector since the First Home Owner Grant was announced last year.
Mark Hewitt, general manager of sales & operations says, “We’re seeing a number of signs that the mortgage market is normalizing. First homebuyers, investor activity and LVR’s are all reverting towards long-term trends after a period of turmoil.”