Home loan commitments rise 13.3%

The value of new mortgage borrowing is continuing to increase, as more buyers enter the market and property prices – and therefore loan sizes – keep rising.

Borrowers committed to $26.40 billion of home loans in February, according to the most recent data from the Australian Bureau of Statistics. That was 1.5% higher than the previous month and 13.3% higher than the previous year.

The owner-occupier share was $16.87 billion, which was up 1.6% on the month before and 9.1% on the year before.

The investor share was $9.53 billion, which represented a 1.2% month-on-month increase and 21.5% year-on-year increase.

But while Australians are taking out more new loans, they’re refinancing fewer existing ones.

Borrowers refinanced $16.55 billion of loans in February, which was 3.0% higher than the previous month but 17.9% lower than the previous year.