The total number of home loans issued in Australia was down a seasonally adjusted 3.9 percent on month in January, the Australian Bureau of Statistics said on Wednesday - coming in at 55,786.
That missed forecasts for a decline of 3.0 percent following the upwardly revised 2.7 percent gain in December (originally 2.6 percent).
The value of loans tumbled 4.3 percent to A$20.543 billion after easing 0.2 percent in the previous month.
Investment lending slipped 1.6 percent to A$11.356 billion after dipping 0.1 percent a month earlier.
For comments and feedback: editorial@rttnews.com