WA lending up from historical lows

Lending to investors and first homebuyers in Western Australia is showing early signs of a rebound from its record slump, according to the latest seasonally adjusted data from the Australian Bureau of Statistics.

Finance for investors rose a 17.9 per cent in July to $220.45 million, just a month after it sunk to $187 million.

Source: ABS

The June figure was the lowest since the ABS began producing investor finance data in July 2002.

July’s result is still well short of the boom-time peak of $1 billion in June 2006.

First homebuyers received $382.76 million in loans for July, up 4.43 per cent from $366.54 million in June.

In May, loans to first homebuyers in WA reached its lowest value since November 2011, with just $345.58 million loaned.

In comparison, loans peaked at $692.88 million in September 2009, and there has been broad downward trend since April 2015.

The results come after the federal election result removed uncertainty and banks softened the criteria for checking borrowers' ability to repay loans.

CoreLogic research analyst Cameron Kusher believes there will be an increase in the demand for finance across the national market.

“Lenders are now offering attractive mortgage rates for borrowers,” he said.

“Given all of this, we would expect that demand for mortgages will continue to climb over the coming months.”