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More Australians are taking out mortgages as low interest rates and government handouts make owning a home more feasible, a new consumer credit survey has found.
According to Veda Advantage’s survey of consumer credit, there was a 28 per cent rise in applications for home loans in the year to 30 June.
Veda Advantage’s general manager Russell Evans said Australians' appetite for mortgage finance is at an all time high.
"Veda's measure of mortgage inquiry growth and volumes for the June quarter 2009 is higher than at any time in the past five years,” Mr Evans said.
“ This continuing high level of demand is a response to high levels of housing affordability, low interest rates and the Federal Government's first home buyers' grant.”
In the months from September 2008 to April 2009, the Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) lowered the cash rate by 4.25 percentage points to a 49-year-low of three per cent.
In mid-October, the federal government doubled the first home owners grant to $14,000 for existing dwellings and tripled it to $21,000 for newly built homes.
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