New Australian housing mortgage commitments rose 4.4 percent in December to a record high value of $32.8 billion (US$23.3 billion) as house prices in the country continue to climb. The Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) revealed that it was driven by a 5.3 percent increase in the value of new owner-occupier loans. The average loan size for owner-occupier homes rose to a record high of $602,000 (US$428,000), increasing $6,000 over November alone. At the same time, the average first-home buyer loan size was $481,000 in December 2021, up 11 percent from $433,000 in December 2020. Commonwealth Bank Senior Economists Belinda Allen and Kristina Clifton said they were surprised at the strength in new home lending given the increasing fixed mortgage rates over late-2021. “We have already seen fixed rate mortgages move higher in recent months as well as the implementation of the higher interest rate serviceability buffer by APRA on …