Industry upbeat despite lending fall

Industry upbeat despite lending fallDespite a drop for May, lending finance for owner occupation and new housing construction is up for the year to the end of May, according to the latest data released by the ABS.Data on lending finance for owner occupied housing, released by the ABS on Monday, showed a fall for May in seasonal terms of 5.3 per cent on the previous month. Despite the drop for May there was a 9.2 per cent improvement nationally for the 12 months to the end of May 2015 on the previous year.The Property Council of Australia’s executive director Residential, Nick Proud, says these figures are further evidence of a strong industry. “Despite a drop in lending finance in May, the full year result is still strong and residential development activity should continue to remain at peak levels throughout 2015 and into 2016,” says Proud.Data released from the ABS last week showed finance for new housing construction also declined in May 2015, however new construction finance was still up over the year. Notably, investor finance for new and existing housing also declined over the month, but rose for the year.The latest ABS Housing Finance data released last week showed that total dwelling finance dropped by 4.4 per cent, construction finance for new housing dropped by 3.2 per cent and investment loans also fell by 3.2 per cent in seasonally adjusted terms for the month of May 2015.Despite the drop there was still an overall 13.1 per cent improvement for new housing finance and overall investor lending was 21.8 per cent up over the year.For more click here.