From the Westpac Bulletin:
Housing credit has lost momentum under the weight of past tight monetary policy and with the sector facing a number of headwinds.
Housing credit grew by just 0.30% in the month of June. This is the weakest monthly result on record (back to 1976), with the exception of a one-off fall of -0.38% for June 1984. Annual housing credit growth has now slowed to 5.1%, moderating from 6.0% a year ago.
Housing credit increased by 0.5 per cent over September (see the RBA Release for details), but this involved a further deceleration of mortgage debt…..
….The most recent figures—that prices fell 1.2% over the June to September 2011 quarter, and 2.2% from September 2010 to September 2011 (see the ABS Release for details)—confirm that mortgage debt acceleration, and not “population pressure” etc., is the key determinant of house prices.
