Slight increase in home loans for December

Home loans for the construction and purchase of new real estate jumped by 1.4 per cent over the month of December, new data has shown.

The Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) information found that the increase was coupled with a slight decrease over the three quarters to December.

Housing Industry Association (HIA) economist Diwa Hopkins welcomed this figure, saying that some geographical locales enjoyed some encouraging results.

She explained: "Overall, 2012 can be characterised as year where new home lending just managed to climb out of the lows reached in 2011, with lending for construction and purchase of new homes rising by 8.5 per cent.

"Furthermore, it's encouraging to see that NSW, Queensland and WA finished off 2012 with positive results as these states will be crucial to an aggregate recovery in new home building."

New South Wales enjoyed the greatest seasonally adjusted growth for the loans issued - jumping by 12 per cent for the December quarter.

Western Australia and Queensland also saw increases, rising by 6.4 per cent and 2.1 per cent respectively.

Victoria saw the greatest decline, with the number of loans contracting by 13 per cent.