INTEREST rate fears have driven down home lending by 30 per cent, while also shrinking the average size of mortgages, latest figures show.
Australian Financial Group's (AFG) Mortgage Index for December shows new mortgages falling during the month by 30 per cent, to 5783, from 8201 in November, the second biggest month for mortgages since the index was introduced in January, 2004.
The fall in the number of mortgages sold was the biggest month-on-month drop since the index was introduced.
The average mortgage size dropped to $300,212 from $307,665 in November.
AFG sales and operations general manager Mark Hewitt said the figures showed that consumers were concerned about interest rate rises.
"We certainly had a subdued end to 2006," he said.
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