Bulletin – June 2010 Housing Turnover and First-home Buyers Abstract
While housing turnover varies over time, on average, around 6 per cent of the housing stock, or around 500,000 dwellings, change ownership each year. In 2009, first-home buyers accounted for an unusually large share of this turnover, although this share has since declined. As first-home buyers make greater use of mortgages to fund purchases than do repeat buyers, this shift in the composition of turnover helps to explain the recent divergence in movements in housing prices and loan approvals.