Lending to self-builders climbs down under

Self-builders continue to play a part in Australia's construction industry, with lending for new owner occupier homes rising in August 2015.

New ABS housing finance figures show that owner occupier lending for new housing increased in August, although the monthly level was still below a cyclical high which occurred midway through 2014.

The number of loans (seasonally adjusted) to owner occupiers purchasing or constructing new homes increased by 2.5 per cent in August 2015 but was still 4.3 per cent lower than 12 months earlier and also 5.7 per cent lower than what appears to have been a peak in June 2014.

"New home lending to owner occupiers is below a cyclical high reached in mid-2014. However, more recent levels of monthly lending activity have remained healthy and this was also the case for August 2015," comments HIA economist, Diwa Hopkins.

"Lending to investors seeking to construct housing fell away sharply during the month, following the all-time high reached in July."