First home buyers back in action

The figures were up 3.6% on March and 6.6% more than in April last year. It was the second month in a row the number of mortgages taken out by first home buyers has been higher than the same month last year.

All up, 1,883 mortgages totaling $1,049 billion were taken out by first home buyers, up 6.6% compared to April last year.  Despite a dip in February and March, there has been a general upward trend in the share for first home buyers in the preceding months, the data show.

While mortgage lending across the board fell during April, it was to a lesser extent with first home buyers.  Their borrowing fell from $1,245 billion in March to $1,049 in March. 

However, the increase in lending to first home buyers resulted in investors' share falling to 16.6%, down from 17.7% in March. The share to other owner occupiers fell sharply to 57.6%, down from 60.3%.