Queensland has outperformed NSW this week, with housing finance figures, released today by the Australian Bureau of Statistics, increasing by 3% in Queensland, ahead of NSW’s 1.3%. This result was a win for Queensland, particularly on the back of such flat figures last month.
These figures, which rose from 9,948 in April 2014 to 10,274 in May 2014 (seasonally adjusted), are promising for Queensland as the rest of the country showed little movement and experienced a fairly flat result. This month’s figure also brings us to a 12.9% increase over the year – which is a promising sign. Queensland building approvals, which were released last week, also performed strongly with an increase of 45% during May and an enormous spike recorded in the unit market. These latest housing finance figures, combined with strong building approvals confirm for us that Queensland is certainly the state to get building.
On a disappointing note, the first home buyer sector of the market continues to be well below average, highlighting that housing affordability issues continue to plague many areas of Queensland.
