As compared to January 2011, demand for home loans and home loan sales were up by 40% during last month.
According to the latest AFG Mortgage Index, sales of home loans in Queensland were up 80.6 per cent, 84.5 per cent in South Australia, 37.4 per cent in Western Australia, 25 per cent in Victoria and 14.5 per cent in NSW.
Also during the month of January, WA replaced NSW as the most popular place to buy a first home.
Almost one in five new home loans arranged in WA were arranged for first home buyers compared to 14 per cent in NSW.
Through the second half of last year, NSW led the country as the most active first home buyers market.
In terms of allure of property investment, NSW comes up tops, with 40.2 per cent of home loans were taken out for investment purposes, compared to 36.8 per cent in Victoria, 34.9 per cent in Queensland, 32.6 per cent in Western Australia and 32.0 per cent in South Australia.
Borrowers are becoming a little more optimistic as they see property prices become more affordable and interest rates slowly coming down.