Australian Housing Finance Rises in August

The number of Australian home-loan approvals rose a seasonally adjusted 1.0% in August from July, the Bureau of Statistics said Thursday.

Economists surveyed ahead of the announcement had expected a rise of 0.5% for the month.

The value of loans for investment housing rose 4.3% from July, the bureau said.

The number of finance approvals to build new houses fell 2.4% in August from July. Approvals to buy newly built dwellings rose 1.5%, while lending for the purchase of established homes rose 1.5% in the month.

-Write to Rachel Pannett at rachel.pannett@wsj.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

October 11, 2017 20:56 ET (00:56 GMT)