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{{propApi.successMessage}} {{region}} Change locationRBA should pause as housing data tumbles
RBA should pause as housing data tumbles
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“The ABS released the Lending to Households and Businesses data for December 2022 today, and it shows that there were just 4,797 loans issued for new housing, the lowest level since November 2012,” added Mr Reardon.
“Lending for new homes is now down by 62.4 per cent since its peak in January 2021.
“It is concerning that this downturn to date doesn’t reflect the full impact of the RBA’s rate hiking cycle of 2022.
“There are significant lags between a change in the cash rate and its impact on the economy.
“The economy needs time to digest the full impact of interest rate hikes before the RBA considers further action.
“We are already seeing signs of a very significant slowdown in a leading part of the economy.
“Industry needs stability, and the RBA won’t achieve this by sending the housing sector through boom-and-bust cycles.
“We don’t want to see a housing downturn gain momentum. Official data on the impact of interest rates if very lagged and appears that it is much easier to strangle the economy than it is to kick start it.
“This is not the same cycle we were on in the 1980s. We don’t need to crash the economy in order to save it. It took a decade to recover from the rate hiking cycles in the 80s, and this is a very different cycle.
“The supply chain disruptions of the pandemic are easing. Inflation in other economies is slowing and interest rates are not the only tool at governments’ disposal to address the inflationary problem,” concluded Mr Reardon.
The number of loans for the construction or purchase of new homes declined in all jurisdictions in 2022 compared to 2021, led by Tasmania (-44.0 per cent), and followed by Western Australia (-43.2 per cent), South Australia (-41.6 per cent), Queensland (-38.1 per cent), the Northern Territory (-34.5 per cent), New South Wales (-31.4 per cent), Victoria (-30.5 per cent), and the Australian Capital Territory (-7.6 per cent).
Lending for Purchase and Construction of a New Home
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