One state driving the biggest spike in first home buyer loans in years

Applications for first home buyer loans rose by nearly seven per cent in Australia, the sharpest rise since 2023, according to new data.

A new five per cent deposit scheme and the federal government's Help to Buy scheme saw nearly 32,000 first home buyer loans in the December quarter, the largest rise since 2023, according to the Australian Bureau of Statistics.

This also saw their value increase by 15.5 per cent.

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Head of finance stats at the ABS, Dr Mish Tan, said buyers in one state were driving the changes.

"The size of the average first home buyer loan rose by a record 8.5 per cent to $607,624 this quarter and was largely driven by first home buyers in NSW," he said.

"The Australian Government 5% Deposit Scheme has increased the eligibility criteria for first home buyers and we are seeing the early effects of this in our data."

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First home buyer loans in New South Wales grew by nearly 11 per cent, with Western Australia and Queensland also having rises of 9.8 per cent and 6.4 per cent respectively.

The only state that saw falls in this area was Tasmania, with first home buyer loan applications dropping by 1.9 per cent.

There were also over 60,000 new investment loans approved in the same time frame, a rise of 5.5 per cent compared to the last quarter and a 23.6 per cent rise compared to the same time period last year.

The total value of these loans was $43 billion, a rise of $3.2 billion.

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