(Australia) – Research group Market Intelligence Strategy Centre (MISC) has estimated that the Australian home mortgage market is set to contract by about A$35 billion – or 22 percent – in the year to June 30, 2003.Using surveys of stamp duty figures, which capture all settled loans, MISC estimates the number of loans will fall by at least 223,000 over that period.
The A$35 billion fall would still take the market back to 2001 levels, while the 2002 home loan market of one million loans worth around A$165 billion would remain a high water mark for mortgage lending.