Lending eases
Lending for housing pulled back 4 per cent in December on a seasonally adjusted basis, although this wasn't entirely unexpected after a big surge in October and November combined (up around 8 per cent).
It was the first decline reported in 5 months.
James Foster ran through the detailed numbers
here.
Overall lending was up solidly in Q4, and property sentiment is generally shifting to a brighter shade in early February as evidence by more enquiries to buy property via buyer's agents, and an increase in online searches for investment property.
You only need to look at the fundamentals to see why.
The Housing Industry Association
highlighted here the challenges facing housing supply, with lending for new homes now tracking at record lows.
Source: HIA
Meanwhile, the rental crisis is far from over.
Median asking rents in Sydney have now increased from $600/week at their pandemic lows to $1,050 per week, apparently re-accelerating again over the past three months.
Over the past year median asking rents in the New South Wales capital are up +16 per cent for houses, and +15 per cent for units.
Source: SQM Research
Aussie stock markets have also been busy pushing out to a record high close at 7,699 for the ASX 200, as bank stocks have rebounded.
There's been something of a tension for bank stocks between the brightening outlook for residential lending (and the significant potential for the release of bad debt provisioning), versus some exposure on commercial office assets with very high vacancy rates.
Overall, happy days for household wealth, though: there's seemingly a very good chance that housing wealth, stock markets, and superannuation will all sit at record levels in 2024, in spite of the cashflow pressures facing so many households.
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