Despite the high taxes on new housing, buyers are taking out smaller mortgages for newly built homes compared to established properties in various Australian states.

Homebuyers in the ACT, Tasmania, South Australia, Western Australia, and New South Wales are securing lower loans for new builds than for existing homes.

In the ACT, the average loan for a new home is 20% lower than for an established property ($525,991 compared to $658,491).

Tasmania follows with a 12.5% difference, while South Australia, Western Australia, and New South Wales show gaps of 6.6%, 3.8%, and 0.3%, respectively.

Money.com.au Property Expert Mansour Soltani explains that one reason for this trend is that buyers are opting to build new homes in more affordable areas, such as regional markets, where land costs are lower.

“Established properties in high-demand metro areas come with premium price tags, driving up loan sizes,” he says.

Interestingly, new build loans are higher in the Northern Territory (6.4%), Queensland (3.6%), and Victoria (1.8%), where property markets are slightly more expensive.

This data suggests that for residential property investors, newly built homes offer the opportunity to secure lower loan amounts compared to buying established properties in expensive metro areas, especially in regional locations.