Further signs of recovery in Queensland
Finance commitments have risen in Queensland by 1.3 per cent over October, figures from the Australian Bureau of Statistics have revealed.
The October 2012 Housing Finance figures show that the number of finance commitments for owner-occupied housing has risen from 8,729 in September 2012 to 8,840 in October 2012.
To continue reading the rest of this article, please log in.
Create free account to get unlimited news articles and more!
This figure indicates good news for the Queensland market, according to housing and construction body Master Builders.
Master Builders director of housing policy, Paul Bidwell, said this is the third month in a row that finance commitments have risen in Queensland.
Finance commitments are 11.7 per cent above where they were this time last year, which we believe is a good sign that recovery in the housing sector has commenced,” Mr Bidwell said.
“This is an improvement we expected, given the reasonably strong economic fundamentals, such as employment and population growth, and three interest rate cuts in May, June and December.
“The rise in commitments also bodes well for a subsequent recovery in building approvals, which we’re anticipating during the first half of 2013."
