New data has showed a record number of Australian consumers are refinancing their home loans to take advantage of the current low interest rates. Housing finance figures from the Australian Bureau of Statistics revealed borrowers refinanced a total of $1.5 billion in June - a whopping 94.7% jump from a year ago.
Mortgages taken to buy a block of land climbed by 48.4% while loans to build new homes fell by 6.9% dragged down by lower investment loans. (see previous post)
"Home loan customers are refinancing at a record rate and in the process, unleashing fresh spending power," said Craig James, chief economist with Commonwealth Bank's CommSec. "The reduction in work hours in the community is clearly not a restraint on consumer spending. Consumers have been actively unlocking spending power by refinancing loans at super-low rates. The benefits of the cheaper debt are long-lasting, erasing fears of a slowdown in consumer spending later in the year."
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(source: Your Mortgage, 14 August 2009)
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