How different buyer groups are responding to the changing market

Home loan activity has fallen since earlier in the year, but demand among first-home buyers has held up better than that of other buyer groups.

Between April, when national property prices peaked, and August, the most recent month for which we have data, total home loan commitments fell 13.9%, according to the Australian Bureau of Statistics.

However, the decline varied between different buyer groups:

• Investors down 20.1%
• Subsequent home buyers (owner-occupiers) down 10.8%
• First-home buyers (owner-occupiers) down 9.9%

CoreLogic’s head of residential research, Eliza Owen, who analysed downturns since 2004, found first home buyer demand for finance during downturns has traditionally been resilient, with smaller falls in demand compared to the other two groups, and sometimes even increases.

Ms Owen said there were two reasons for this:

• Governments introduced first-home buyer incentives during some of these downturns
• Price falls made it easier for first-home buyers to save a deposit and enter the market