Fewer than one in 50 new borrowers in New South Wales are first home buyers, according to data from one of the largest mortgage aggregators.
The November data from
AFG revealed the proportion of first home buyers in NSW fell to 1.9%, making it the lowest ever on record for the aggregator. By contrast, investor mortgages made up more than half (50.9%) of home loans in the state over November.
First home buyers also fell to their lowest ever level in Victoria and South Australia where they comprised just 7.4% and 6.3% of new borrowers respectively. First home buying increased slightly in Queensland to 5.2% from its all-time low of 4.7% last month, and in WA rose from a low of 17.9% in October to 19.1% in November.
Mark Hewitt, General Manager of Sales and Operations at AFG said the lack of first home buyers in the market is no surprise given the lack of government incentive.
“We’ve been highlighting the imbalance in the market since the axing of first home buyer grants in several states. Last month was the closest to zero we’ve recorded for NSW, and first home buying is well below its long term trend of around 12% - 15% everywhere except in WA.”
In WA, first home buyers receive a $10,000 state government grant if they move into a new build property, or $3,000 if they buy an established property.
However, the aggregator says the proportion of loans processed by non-major lenders for first home buyers has increased sharply from 30.9% in October to 35.7% in November.
