Everything's bigger in the West. Even their mortgages, it seems, with new data showing that the gap between the average new mortgage in Western Australia versus New South Wales closed to only $14,000 in January.
This is the narrowest gap ever recorded by national mortgage broker AFG, and the first time NSW's dominance as the nation's "big mortgage capital" has looked like coming to an end.
AFG Mortgage Index shows that the average size of a mortgage in NSW, in decline for the past three months, fell to $351k in January 2007, its lowest point since 2005.
Meanwhile, the average mortgage size in WA rose to $337k. The difference between the two average mortgage sizes is now just 3.9 per cent.
Mark Hewitt, General Manager of Sales & Operations said that in the past year the size of NSW mortgages softened, while WA has roared ahead by about $50k.
"It would come as no great surprise to see WA move ahead of NSW in the next few months," Mr Hewitt said.
"Even though the WA market has shown it is no longer immune to rate rises, the dynamics supporting it are still much stronger than other states."
While affordability has become a serious issue for first time property buyers across the country, in WA this problem has become particularly acute. However WA still has the highest proportion of property investors (43 per cent) and their confidence, underpinned by a buoyant rental market, as well as the continued influx of workers into the state, are expected to support property prices.
AFG Mortgage Index shows an overall increase in mortgage sales for January of 20 per cent.
While this figure should be seen as something of a correction after a particularly marked sales downturn during December (30 per cent) it is still well above the seasonal average - sales for the summer holiday months of December and January are usually subdued.
AFG Mortgage Index shows Fixed Rate home loans near record levels, with 24.6 per cent of all mortgages sold in January on a fixed, rather than variable rate, an indication of concern over possible future interest rate rises.
