UDIA (VIC)

Executive Director of the Urban Development Institute of Australia (Victoria) Tony De Domenico said, "Today's figures show that, despite the talk of gloom and doom in the Victorian market, there are still buyers out there wanting to buy new homes.

"Things aren't nearly as bad as they seem, and Victoria is still doing much better than the country as a whole."

Housing finance for Victorian first home buyers also shows a surge of buyers trying to get ahead of the cessation of the first home buyers boost in Victoria, before it fell back to $7,000 this month.

First home buyers accounted for 19.3 per cent of loans in May 2012, up from 17.3 per cent in April and 16.4 per cent in May 2011.

Across Australia housing finance for owner occupation of new dwellings (seasonally adjusted) fell by 2.4 per cent in May, compared with April 2012, and were flat in year-on-year terms.

However, in Victoria (original data only available) housing finance for owner occupation of new dwellings surged by 30.2 per cent in the month and since the start of 2012, housing finance for new dwellings is up by 52.4 per cent (in original terms).

Mr De Domenico said, "the release of the ABS figures should act as a confidence booster to the Victorian housing market and complements the long term planning strategies of the Victorian Government to ensure a guaranteed supply of land for residential development to maintain housing affordability."

Media Enquiries:
Ron Smith, Corporate Media Communications, UDIA (VIC) Mobile: 0417 329 201