6 . First home buyer activity to be more subdued
There was a lot in 2020 that first home buyers liked . The first was the very slow market early on in the pandemic , conditions which are generally favourable for first home buyers . The second was the large number of government incentives available to them , ranging from the Federal Government ’ s first home buyer deposit scheme and HomeBuilder , to state based stamp duty reductions . The third was very few investors , a buyer category that tends to compete for similar properties to first home buyers .
The number of home loan commitments to first home buyers hit a peak in January 2021 , just under the previous peak in 2009 , and since then have slowly trended downwards . The end of HomeBuilder was a big part of this , however rapidly increasing prices would also drive this . For now , it does look like activity from this group will continue to moderate over coming months .
18,000
NEW LOAN COMMITMENTS - FIRST HOME BUYERS ( NUMBER ) New loan commitments - first home buyers ( number )
16,000
14,000
12,000
10,000
8,000
6,000
4,000
2,000
0
Apr-03 Aug-03 Dec-03 Apr-04 Aug-04 Dec-04 Apr-05 Aug-05 Dec-05 Apr-06 Aug-06 Dec-06 Apr-07 Aug-07 Dec-07 Apr-08 Aug-08 Dec-08 Apr-09 Aug-09 Dec-09 Apr-10 Aug-10 Dec-10 Apr-11 Aug-11 Dec-11 Apr-12 Aug-12 Dec-12 Apr-13 Aug-13 Dec-13 Apr-14 Aug-14 Dec-14 Apr-15 Aug-15 Dec-15 Apr-16 Aug-16 Dec-16 Apr-17 Aug-17 Dec-17 Apr-18 Aug-18 Dec-18 Apr-19 Aug-19 Dec-19 Apr-20 Aug-20 Dec-20 Apr-21
Source : ABS , Ray White 11