Australian housing finance commitments for owner-occupied housing fell 5.5 per cent in December, seasonally adjusted, to 55,632 the Australian Bureau of Statistics said on Wednesday.
Economists had expected the number of owner-occupier housing finance commitments to have fallen by 5.0 per cent in December.
Total housing finance by value fell by 2.8 per cent in December, seasonally adjusted, to $21.900 billion.
There was another fall in the proportion of first home buyers among home borrowers, with 21 per cent of loans taken out in December going to first-timers compared to 22.1 per cent in November.