Lending indicators

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This release is about new borrower-accepted finance commitments for housing, personal and business loans

Reference period
February 2020
Released
8/04/2020

Key statistics

  • New loan commitments fell 1.7% for housing (seasonally adjusted).
  • New loan commitments fell 0.5% for personal fixed term loans (seasonally adjusted).
  • New loan commitments fell 1.6% for business construction (trend).

Data quality note

From July 2019 onwards, data in this publication has been sourced from the Economic and Financial Statistics (EFS) collection, a new and improved data source. There have been extensive and ongoing discussions with lenders about the EFS collection, however only eight reporting periods have been collected on the new basis. Data quality is therefore expected to continue to improve over time, as lenders become accustomed to the new reporting basis and further refine the data they report. This process is likely to lead to revisions, including to the historical time series.

Please note that specific data quality issues have been identified with the reporting of detailed housing loan purpose categories, particularly for loan commitments for the purchase of newly erected dwellings. Some loan commitments for the purchase of existing dwellings are being incorrectly reported as being for the purchase of newly erected dwellings. The magnitude of misreporting for this issue is still being investigated.

Revisions

Seasonally adjusted data for all housing series have been revised to account for the impact of conceptual changes introduced in the EFS collection that has led to a shift in the seasonality of reported data. The impact of revisions is most notable for recent months.

Original data has also been revised to incorporate updated information from reporting entities.

Lender type breakdowns

Lender type breakdowns for Major banks, Other Authorised Deposit-taking Institutions (ADIs) and Non-ADIs are only available in this publication from July 2019 onwards. It is likely that more information about lender-type breakdowns will become available in the coming months.

Managing the impact of Coronavirus (COVID-19) on loan commitments statistics

The ABS is currently monitoring for potential impacts from the Coronavirus (COVID-19) on loan commitments statistics and will continue to do so for the period of the pandemic.

Quality assurance of data for the February 2020 quarter did not identify any notable impact to headline statistics. It is important to note that the reference date for February fell at a point where there was only a relatively low number of confirmed COVID-19 cases within Australia and before it was declared a global pandemic.

The ABS and APRA are actively managing the potential risks from COVID-19 to data collection operations. The ABS appreciates the support of APRA and lending institutions in continuing to provide the data used to compile this publication.

    New loan commitments

     February 2020
    $b
    Month percent change
    %
    Year percent change
    %
               Seasonally adjusted
    Households   
     Housing19.46-1.713.1
      Owner occupier (a)14.15-1.715.8
      Investor (a)5.31-1.96.3
     Personal   
      Fixed term loans1.83-0.510.1
    Businesses   
     Construction2.338.9-19.8
     Purchase of property5.2513.41.6
                      Trend
    Households   
     Housing19.610.416.9
      Owner occupier (a)14.240.620.1
      Investor (a)5.37-0.19.3
     Personal   
      Fixed term loans1.851.512.1
    Businesses   
     Construction2.73-1.615.7
     Purchase of property4.921.3-11.6

    a. Loan commitments for owner occupier and investor housing exclude refinancing.
     

    Key graphs

    While the value of new lending commitments for housing fell in February, the value is up 19.8% from the most recent low point in May 2019


    Fixed term loan commitments for personal finance have generally been increasing over the past 12 months, despite the fall in February


    Both the value of new loan commitments to business for construction and for the purchase of property rose in seasonally adjusted terms in February

    Housing

    New loan commitments by purpose                         Seasonally adjusted
    February 2020Month percent change
    %
    Year percent change
    %
     Value ($b)  
    Owner occupier   
     Total housing (a)14.15-1.715.8
      Construction of dwellings1.492.711.4
      Purchase of newly erected dwellings1.77-9.239.3
      Purchase of existing dwellings9.89-1.412.7
     First home buyers4.110.335.8
    Investor   
     Total housing (a)5.31-1.96.3
     Number  
    Owner occupier   
     Total housing (a) (b)-  --
      Construction of dwellings3 2831.9-1.7
      Purchase of newly erected dwellings3 679-8.929.0
      Purchase of existing dwellings19 888-1.3-2.5
     First home buyers9 7340.419.4
    Investor   
     Total housing (a) (b)--

    a. Housing includes loan commitments for dwellings, purchase of residential land and for alterations and additions.
    b. There is no seasonally adjusted or trend data available for the number of owner occupiers or investors for total housing as the data was collected from July 2019.
     


    The value of new loan commitments for owner occupier and investor housing both fell following an extended period of growth


    The purchase of newly erected dwellings drove the fall in the value of owner occupier loan commitments


    The largest falls in new owner occupier loan commitments were concentrated in New South Wales and Victoria


    Falls in new loan commitments for investors in NSW, SA and the ACT outweighed increases in the remaining five states and territories


    Loan commitments to investors remain lower than owner occupiers for all major categories

    First home buyers

    In February 2020:

    • the number of owner occupier first home buyer loan commitments increased 0.4% in seasonally adjusted terms
    • the number of first home buyer loan commitments for investment purposes accounted for 4.5% of all first home buyer commitments, in original terms
    • owner occupier first home buyer loan commitments accounted for 31.2% of all owner occupier commitments (excluding refinancing), in original terms
       

    Previously, the ABS published a first home buyer ratio which was the ratio of owner occupier first home buyer loan commitments to all owner occupier loan commitments. The table below presents two owner occupier first home buyer ratios.

    • The first ratio is the ratio of first home buyer loan commitments to total dwelling commitments (excluding refinancing). This is similar to the ratio published prior to October 2019. Loan commitments for dwellings is the sum of loan commitments for construction of dwellings, newly erected dwellings and existing dwellings.
    • The second ratio is a new ratio, the ratio of first home buyer loan commitments to total housing loan commitments (excluding refinancing). This ratio uses the new key statistic, total housing loan commitments. Total housing loan commitments is the sum of loan commitments for dwellings and loan commitments for purchases of residential land and alterations and additions.
       

    First home buyer ratios should be used with caution because the direction of movements in the ratio are often not indicative of the direction of movement in the number of first home buyers. First home buyer ratios are no longer routinely published by the ABS in the time series spreadsheets.

    The table below does not include first home buyer loan commitments for investors. Information about the number of loan commitments for investors is new and is separately presented in a graph below.

    New loan commitments
    to owner occupier first
    home buyers (number)
     Original 
    First home buyer
    loan commitments
    Number (a)
    First home
    buyer ratio
    Dwellings (b)
    First home
    buyer ratio
    Housing (c)
    Total Australia8 52636.2%31.2%
     New South Wales2 03133.9%29.0%
     Victoria2 64539.7%33.1%
     Queensland1 78333.9%30.3%
     South Australia47225.5%22.5%
     Western Australia1 16146.2%40.9%
     Tasmania18131.7%26.0%
     Northern Territory5442.5%37.2%
     Australian Capital Territory19933.4%30.5%

    a. Number of owner occupier first home buyer loan commitments includes purchase of residential land.
    b. Number of owner occupier first home buyers as a percentage of total owner occupier dwelling commitments by state.
    c. Number of owner occupier first home buyers as a percentage of total owner occupied housing commitments by state.
     


    The number of owner occupier first home buyer loan commitments are up 19.4% on February 2019


    In February, New South Wales and Queensland had the largest increases in the number of owner occupier first home buyer loan commitments

    * Investor first home buyers (number) for Tas and NT are not available for publication

    Data downloads - time series spreadsheets

    Table 1. Households ; housing finance ; total housing ; by property purpose ; new loan commitments ; values

    Table 2. Households ; housing finance ; total housing ; by property purpose ; by lender type ; new loan commitments ; values

    Table 3. Households ; housing finance ; owner occupiers ; by detailed purpose ; new loan commitments ; numbers and values

    Table 4. Households ; housing finance ; owner occupiers ; total housing excluding refinancing ; by state ; new loan commitments ; numbers and values

    Table 5. Households ; housing finance ; owner occupiers ; by detailed purpose ; new loan commitments ; New South Wales ; numbers and values

    Table 6. Households ; housing finance ; owner occupiers ; by detailed purpose ; new loan commitments ; Victoria ; numbers and values

    Table 7. Households ; housing finance ; owner occupiers ; by detailed purpose ; new loan commitments ; Queensland ; numbers and values

    Table 8. Households ; housing finance ; owner occupiers ; by detailed purpose ; new loan commitments ; South Australia ; numbers and values

    Table 9. Households ; housing finance ; owner occupiers ; by detailed purpose ; new loan commitments ; Western Australia ; numbers and values

    Table 10. Households ; housing finance ; owner occupiers ; by detailed purpose ; new loan commitments ; Tasmania ; numbers and values

    Table 11. Households ; housing finance ; owner occupiers ; by detailed purpose ; new loan commitments ; Northern Territory ; numbers and values

    Table 12. Households ; housing finance ; owner occupiers ; by detailed purpose ; new loan commitments ; Australian Capital Territory ; numbers and values

    Table 13. Households ; housing finance ; investors ; by detailed purpose ; new loan commitments ; numbers and values

    Table 14. Households ; housing finance ; investors ; total housing excluding refinancing ; by state ; new loan commitments ; numbers and values

    Table 15. Households ; housing finance ; investors ; by detailed purpose ; new loan commitments ; New South Wales ; numbers and values

    Table 16. Households ; housing finance ; investors ; by detailed purpose ; new loan commitments ; Victoria ; numbers and values

    Table 17. Households ; housing finance ; investors ; by detailed purpose ; new loan commitments ; Queensland ; numbers and values

    Table 18. Households ; housing finance ; investors ; by detailed purpose ; new loan commitments ; South Australia ; numbers and values

    Table 19. Households ; housing finance ; investors ; by detailed purpose ; new loan commitments ; Western Australia ; numbers and values

    Table 20. Households ; housing finance ; investors ; by detailed purpose ; new loan commitments ; Tasmania ; numbers and values

    Table 21. Households ; housing finance ; investors ; by detailed purpose ; new loan commitments ; Northern Territory ; numbers and values

    Table 22. Households ; housing finance ; investors ; by detailed purpose ; new loan commitments ; Australian Capital Territory ; numbers and values

    Table 23. Households ; housing finance ; first home buyers ; by state ; new loan commitments ; numbers and values

    Table 24. Households ; housing finance ; first home buyers ; owner occupiers ; by state ; new loan commitments ; numbers and values

    Table 25. Households ; housing finance ; first home buyers ; investors ; by state ; new loan commitments ; numbers and values

    Table 26. Households ; housing finance ; non-residents ; new loan commitments ; numbers and values

    Table 27. Households ; personal finance ; fixed term loans ; by purpose ; new loan commitments ; values

    Table 28. Households ; personal finance ; revolving credit ; new loan commitments ; values

    Table 29. Businesses ; business finance ; finance leases ; by purpose ; new loan commitments ; values

    Table 30. Businesses ; business finance ; fixed term loans ; by purpose ; new loan commitments ; values

    Table 31. Businesses ; business finance ; fixed term loans ; small business size ; by purpose ; new loan commitments ; values

    Table 32. Businesses ; business finance ; fixed term loans ; small business size ; by state ; new loan commitments ; values

    Table 33. Businesses ; business finance ; fixed term loans ; medium business size ; by purpose ; new loan commitments ; values

    Table 34. Businesses ; business finance ; fixed term loans ; medium business size ; by state ; new loan commitments ; values

    Table 35. Businesses ; business finance ; fixed term loans ; large business size ; by purpose ; new loan commitments ; values

    Data downloads - data cubes

    Series ID concordance mapping

    History of changes

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