Home settlement decline pivoted in November

After NSW recorded the greatest decline in residential sales settlements in the September quarter, the state swung back in November, with monthly volumes increasing by 8.8 per cent, PEXA’s Monthly Settlements and Mortgage Insights showed.

NSW led the way nationally, with its sales settlement volumes up (8.8 per cent) and the aggregate value of property transacted increasing to $18.5 billion or 16.5 per cent for the month.

Residential sale settlements were up 8.5 per cent month-on-month, while refinance settlements were flat month-on-month but remained at record highs — up 2.3 per cent year-on-year.

This month was somewhat of an anomaly after PEXA indicated that the residential property market’s record run had come to a close as rising interest rates began to slow spending.

After more than two years of monthly dominance, Queensland was knocked off its perch in November, with sale settlement in the state up 5.4 per cent month-on-month, falling below NSW.

Nonetheless, the state’s aggregate value of sale settlements rose 4.3 per cent to $12 billion and refinances were flat for the month.

Victoria did not experience the same rebound as its eastern counterparts, with a 0.9 per cent dip in sales settlements and residential settlements falling 1.1 per cent month-on-month.

New loan sale settlements also dipped 2.3 per cent month-on-month, and the capital saw a fall of 1.7 per cent.

Western Australia saw an increase in sales settlements with a 4.7 per cent month-on-month increase.

This marked an aggregate value of sale settlements of $4.2 billion, up 2.9 per cent over the month. New loan sale settlements also lifted 2.4 per cent for the month.

Similar to other states, refinance settlements in WA were flat month-on-month.

Refinances slowed down

The data revealed a flattening of refinances across the country following falls in NSW and Qld the month earlier, with Victoria the only state to see an increase in refinances.

The notable shift towards the end of the year follows record owner-occupier refinances reported in August by the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS), after $18.8 billion of mortgages were moved across lenders.

Owner-occupier mortgages led the charge after nearly $13 billion of owner-occupier mortgages were refinanced.

This was up 2.8 per cent on July 2022 figures and is 17.5 per cent higher when compared to August 2021.

Regions outpaced capitals

The digital settlement platform also found that the regions outpaced the capital cities in NSW, Victoria and Qld.

Regional NSW saw a month-on-month increase in sale settlements up 12.2 per cent, followed by Qld at 9.2 per cent.

Victoria’s regional transactions grew, albeit only by 1.4 per cent, while Western Australia reported a 4.4 per cent increase.

[Related: Settlements and refinances continue to fall in NSW: PEXA]