CANBERRA:Low interest rate loans for used cars rose by just 1.1% in Australia.The property boom has helped home owners feel comfortable about borrowing money to buy a new car.The amount more than doubled from $3.4 billion in 2009 to $6.9 billion in 2014.Separate motoring industry figures, also released on Tuesday, showed that new car sales fell 15 per cent to 1.1 million in 2014 but still represented the second biggest year on record.
Higher home prices have enabled many mortgage-holders to refinance and release more of the equity in their homes.This has encouraged households to spend on one-off big-ticket items, such as new cars, despite broader concerns about incomes and cashflow.Low interest rates and strengthening asset values, including property, has increased people’s wealth – they’re in a better financial position,” IBISWorld senior analyst Caroline Finch told AAP on Tuesday.
When they’re looking at getting a new car, or a used car, they are feeling a bit wealthier, and finances are a bit more accessible.”People in their thirties and forties who bought property in the past five years have become the biggest users of car financing.
They generally have deposits for their new car purchases, a stable lifestyle and know where and how they wanted to live.IBISWorld said the amount of money borrowed for new cars and station wagons rose by an annualised rate of 15 per cent in the past five years.
