Signs Already of Budget Backfire

March 24th,2014

Real Estate Institute of Australia (REIA) President, Ms Pamela Bennett says it has taken less than a week for signs to emerge that the Government's decision to shift responsibility for housing affordability to the Reserve Bank will backfire for first home buyers.

The latest Housing Finance Figures released by the Australian Bureau of Statistics today show the number of first home buyers, as a percentage of total owner occupied housing commitments, decreased further in March to 16.4 per cent. Ms Bennett says this is now disturbingly lower than the long run average of 20.2 per cent.