The value of new housing finance commitments has fallen for the fourth month in a row, with the rate of decline accelerating.

According to the latest Australian Bureau of Statistics lending data, the value of new housing loan commitments fell 8.2 per cent in September, compared with the previous month. The A$25.1 billion of new lending was down 18.5 per cent on the same time last year.

The fall in September follows a fall of 3.4 per cent in August.

The value of new lending to owner occupiers was down 9.3 per cent month-on-month and down 19.9 per cent over 12 months.

New lending to residential property investors was down 6 per cent month-on-month and down 15.3 per cent over 12 months.

The boom in refinancing eased in September. The value of external refinancing fell 8.2 per cent to $17.3 billion month-on-month but was up 7.4 per cent over 12 months.

After falling since May, the average loan size was steady at $588,441. It rose from $725,335 to $743,869 in New South Wales, which has the highest loan sizes.

Reserve Bank data show that lenders’ mortgage balances grew by 0.5 per cent in September and by 7.3 per cent over the 12 months to August.

Owner occupier loan balances were up 0.5 per cent month-on-month and 7.8 per cent over 12 months. 

Investor loan balances were up 0.3 per cent month-on-month and 6.4 per cent over 12 months.

And according to the latest APRA lending data, ANZ returned to system growth in September, after a long struggle to get its lending processes right. Commonwealth Bank and Westpac also grew their mortgage books around system, while NAB lost some ground.

The lenders gaining share include Macquarie, AMP Bank and Suncorp Bank.

Bendigo and Adelaide Bank, Bank of Queensland, HSBC and ING all suffered some runoff, with ING’s book declining at an annualised rate of 7.1 per cent over the past three months.