Property Brief - February 2024

Home loan activity started the year on a solid footing, with January applications virtually at the same level as the Q4 2023 monthly average (figure 1). This is encouraging as January is usually quite a slow month for many businesses, following on from the summer holiday season. There is nevertheless cause for some concern that, since Q4 2021, home loan applications have been below levels achieved in the last quarter before the Covid-19 pandemic. Unsurprisingly, this downward trend started in the same quarter as the Reserve Bank Monetary Policy Committee commenced interest-rate hikes.