WA housing finance up almost 40% on long-term average

The latest State of the States report released by the Commonwealth Bank of Australia (CBA) has shown Western Australia has taken the top spot for home lending (as of September 2024), with the value of home loans up by 39.4 per cent on the long-term average.

Western Australia has knocked Queensland off its number one spot, which recorded home loan values reaching 39 per cent above the long-term average in August 2024. This has since declined to 36.8 per cent as of September 2024.

Following Queensland, the value of home loans was 22.4 per cent above the long-term average in South Australia, 17.5 per cent in Tasmania, 13.1 per cent in NSW, 12.2 per cent in Victoria, and 7.5 per cent in the ACT.

The Northern Territory was by far the weakest in this category as the value of home loans plummeted 14.8 per cent below the decade average; however, this was up on August’s figure of 16.5 per cent.

Annually, Queensland was the strongest for home lending, increasing by 25.5 per cent, closely followed by Western Australia (up by 24.3 per cent).

Tasmania took the third spot, with annual lending increasing by 16.8 per cent, followed by South Australia (11.5 per cent), NSW (8.9 per cent), Victoria (7 per cent), and the ACT (5.6 per cent). Annual lending in the NT fell by 11.1 per cent.

Chief CommSec economist Ryan Felsman said state economies overall have slowed “in response to higher interest rates and inflation, however Australian states and territories are proving resilient due to a strong job market and solid population growth”.

“As consumers respond to higher borrowing costs and price pressures, the future path will depend on whether the job market can hold up as well as the trajectory of interest rates over the coming months,” Felsman said.

“Western Australia’s performance across a number of indicators, namely retail spending, unemployment, population growth, housing finance and dwelling starts powered the state to the top of our economic leaderboard for the second quarter in a row.

“Queensland however is nipping at WA’s heels, having shot up to equal second place alongside South Australia, with solid results across the eight economic indicators and strong economic momentum. As expected, the interest-rate sensitive south-eastern states remained in a tight cluster mid-table.”

[RELATED: Housing finance performing strongly in Qld]

Adrian Suljanovic is a journalist at Broker Daily with more than two years experience reporting on all facets of the third party distribution channel.

Adrian has written for a range of business and finance titles including IFA, Investor Daily and Lawyer’s Weekly before joining the mortgages team in 2022.

He graduated from the University of Wollongong in 2021 gaining a Bachelor of Communication & Media with a major in Digital & Social Media.

E-mail Adrian at: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.