Home lending drops by $5.4 billion as investors exit

New data has revealed the multibillion-dollar impact that this year’s property market headwinds have had on home lending.The total number of new home loans fell 5.4% in the June quarter, according to the latest lending data from the Australian Bureau of Statistics, released today.That drop represented a $5.4 billion hit to the total value of new mortgages compared to the previous quarter, the data shows.The decline in new loans was driven by a reduction in investor lending, with the number of loans to investors declining 8.6% in the three months to June, equating to a $4.2 billion fall.About 52,600 investors took out loans in the three months to June, down from about 57,600 in the March quarter.This was the largest quarterly fall in investor loans since September 2022, and follows a 4.7% fall in the March quarter.The decline in investor lending coincided with the announcement of controversial property tax changes targeting investors in the federal budget in May.It also came after the Reserve Bank raised interest rates three times in February, March and May, entirely reversing last year’s cuts.The total value of new loans declined by $5.4 billion in the June quarter. Picture: reales...