First home buyers slightly up for February

First home buyers' share of new loans increased from 13.6% in January to 13.7% in February, according to new data from the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS).

The latest Housing Finance figures from the ABS show that the average loan size for first home buyers fell by $1,900, to $331,200, between January and February.

In February last year, ABS figures show first home buyer loans making up a 15.2% segment of all new housing commitments.

While the number of loans for owner-occupied dwellings increased in February, by 1.2% in seasonally adjusted terms, the average loan size fell for all owner occupier loans in the same was down $11,100 from $337,200.

The impact of the Reserve Bank's 25 basis point rate cut in the same month is unclear. However, their concerns over the level of investor borrowing in the housing market may be somewhat lessened by the ABS' February data.

The value of investor loans was down 3.4% in seasonally adjusted terms between January and February, to $12,054,000.

On a trend basis, however, investor activity still continues to dominate, as noted by ANZ.

The bank also observed that owner-occupier refinance levels accounted for about a third of all monthly finance commitments, with competition among lenders driving refinancing activity to its highest recorded share.