Property sales march forward
Interest in the property market appears to be rekindling with mortgage sales inching up in March, according to broking group Australian Finance Group (AFG).
Mortgage sales recovered in March from the lows recorded earlier this year to $2.513 billion, the group said, a 22 per cent increase compared to February.
Year on year however, home financing activity remains down, with the March figure 8.9 per cent below the $2.760 million recorded by AFG in March 2010.
New South Wales managed to defy the national trend, recording exactly the same figure for mortgage sales in March 2011 as March 2010.
New South Wales also showed the highest level of investor activity with 40.2 per cent of all loans processed during the month taken out by investors.
These latest figures indicate that buyer confidence is gradually returning, according to Mark Hewitt, AFG general manager of sales and operations.
“After two months of extraordinarily subdued mortgage markets, we’re now seeing slight return of buyer confidence.”