The flow of cash into the housing market has slowed for the second month in a row.

But, at $26.864 billion, the value of housing loan approvals in January was still 22 per cent higher than January last year, figures from the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) on Wednesday show.

That means an extra $4.9 billion a month flowing into the market compared with a year ago.

Falls of 0.3 per cent in December and 0.4 per cent in January suggest the upward trend has, at least, slowed and perhaps even halted entirely.

But it’s too early to make that call.

The latest building approvals figures from the bureau show a seven per cent rise in January.

That includes a five per cent rise in approvals for dwellings in multi-unit developments, which tend to generate loan approvals after the building has been completed rather than the other way around where free-standing houses are concerned.

So, there’s a good chance a new peak in lending will be seen before too long.

Meanwhile, the surge in lending is having an impact on building.

Despite a 2.8 per cent fall in January, the value of loans for new and to-be-built housing was up 15 per cent, or more than $400 million a month, from January last year.

It’s also notable that significant amounts of money – either cash or lent through offshore banks (including branches of Australian banks) – do not show up in these housing finance figures.

So, the underlying trend in housing demand could still be rising in spite of the pause in the component of it covered by the ABS data.