Housing finance data published by the Australian Bureau of Statistics yesterday shows a drop in activity in August, but economists have put the latest results down to volatility and say the trend is still positive.The number of housing finance commitments made to owner-occupiers fell 3.9 per cent August - the first fall in eight months. The value of these loans fell 1.9 per cent.The value of all housing finance commitments (made to owner-occupiers and investors) was down 1.2 per cent, from A$24.1 billion in July to $23.8 billion in August (in seasonally adjusted terms).Looking longer term, the market appears healthy. Year-on-year, the value of all housing finance commitments was up 15.3 per cent in August.Investors have been driving the growth in the housing finance market in recent months, but in August there was no growth in housing finance for investors.Commonwealth Bank economist Diana Mousina said in a note that one positive feature of the figures was the 2.2 per cent increase in loans for construction.Mousina said: "Higher levels of housing construction will cheer state governments and the Reserve Bank, which have been trying to target higher construction activity."The proportion of first-home buyers in the market fell from 14.7 per cent in July to 13.7 per cent in August. First-home buyer participation in the market has fallen from 18.6 per cent in August last year.First-home buyer activity is now at its weakest level since 2004.The average loan size was $299,800.Mousina said: "Lending remains on a solid upward trend, but given the continuous rise over the past year some volatility should not be a concern."