The building industry continued to wallow in the doldrums through July, with loans for construction still considerably lower than demand.
The total number of loans for owner occupiers was down by 4.1 per cent in July to 63,599.
Lending for the purchase of new dwellings fell by 1.3 per cent while lending for established dwellings was off by 4.3 per cent.
Lending for construction dipped by 3.3 per cent to a level 3.6 per cent lower than a year earlier.
Housing body, HIA, said that this is the longest period ever that lending for construction has been so low.
"We have never seen weakness in lending last this long", HIA's Chief Economist, Harley Dale, said this week.
"We're talking over five and half years of downturn now."
HIA has for some time expressed concern that the supply of new housing is not keeping up with demand.
On a state by state basis, the total number of seasonally adjusted loans was down everywhere in July except the Northern Territory.
The number of loans fell by 6.9 per cent in South Australia and was down by 6 per cent in Victoria, 4 per cent in Queensland, 2.9 per cent in Western Australia, 2.5 per cent in New South Wales, 1.7 per cent in Tasmania, and 1.3 per cent in the Australian Capital Territory.
Total lending increased by 0.6 per cent in the Northern Territory.
