Glossary

For detailed definitions, please see Reporting Standard ARS 701.0 ABS/RBA Definitions.


Acquisitions

Comprises finance where a business buys part (or all) of another business, in order to assume control of the firm.


Alterations, additions and repairs

Means any structural or non-structural change to existing residential property, non-residential buildings or non-building structures.

It includes:

• repairs and maintenance;
• structural and non-structural changes to dwellings (e.g. garages, carports, pergolas, re-roofing, re-cladding etc.);
• structural and non-structural changes to non-residential buildings (e.g. renovations and refits); and
• non-building work that improves the value of properties with attached dwellings or non-residential buildings (e.g. pools or landscaping).

It excludes:

• dwelling or non-residential building furnishings not attached to the property. These are included under the appropriate personal or business purpose sub-class;
• changes to dwellings that result in the creation of new dwelling (e.g. an attached granny-flat). These are included as construction; and
• conversions from non-residential buildings to dwellings (and vice versa). These are included as construction.

Authorised deposit-taking institutions

Authorised deposit-taking institutions (ADIs) refers to banks, building societies and credit unions. All other financial institutions in scope of Lending Indicators are non-ADIs.


Commitment

A borrower-accepted commitment exists for a loan or finance lease once an application has been approved, a loan/finance lease contract or letter of offer has been issued to the borrower, and the borrower has accepted the offer.
For bills, a borrower-accepted commitment occurs when the bill is accepted.
It includes: agreements to increase the credit limit of an existing loan contract (for example, as part of an internal refinance).


Construction (purpose)

Means the creation of new dwellings, non-residential buildings or non-building structures.

For dwellings, it includes:

• construction of newly erected dwellings;
• changes to existing dwellings that result in the creation of a new dwelling (e.g. a granny-flat); and
• conversions from non-residential buildings to dwellings (e.g. a warehouse converted to apartments).

For non-residential building, it includes: conversions from dwellings to non-residential buildings.


Dwelling

A dwelling is a self-contained room or suite of rooms, including cooking and bathing facilities, intended for long-term residential use. A dwelling is private (not generally accessible by the public) and is contained within a building that is an immobile structure. A dwelling may comprise part of a building or the whole of a building.


Existing dwelling

An existing dwelling is one that has been previously occupied.


External refinance

External refinance is a new loan obtained to replace an existing loan that was provided by a different lender.

For housing, it includes refinancing an existing loan for the same residential property.


Finance lease

Finance lease refers to the leasing or hiring of tangible assets under an agreement which transfers substantially all the risks and rewards incidental to the ownership of the asset. Title may or may not eventually be transferred


First home buyers

First home buyers are borrowers entering the home ownership market for the first time, whether or not they are purchasing a dwelling for owner-occupation or investment purposes.
This includes all borrowers entering the home ownership market for the first time, regardless of whether or not they have received or are eligible for a first-home buyer grant.
If there is more than one party to the loan, a loan is classified as being to a first-home buyer if none of the borrowing parties to the commitment have previously owned a dwelling.
It excludes: internal refinance and external refinance of loans that were originally made to first-home buyers.


Fixed- term loans

Fixed-term loans are loans extended for a fixed period, with a maturity date by which the loan must be repaid. Repayments over the fixed period reduce the loan balance and do not make further finance available.

It includes: redraw facilities attached to fixed-term loans.

It excludes: revolving credit facilities.


Internal refinance

Internal refinance occurs where a new loan is obtained to replace an existing loan that was provided by the original lender and the credit limit has increased from that which was available prior to refinancing; or the credit limit on an existing loan by the lender is increased (e.g. a ‘top-up’). In both cases the funds must be used for substantially the same purpose class as the existing contract.


Investment/Investor (housing loan)

Investment loan is a loan to a household for the purpose of housing, where the funds are used for a residential property that is not owner-occupied.
Where the loan is for a residential property that is different to the residential property against which the loan is secured, this definition refers to the occupation status of the residential property for which the loan has been obtained (not the occupation status of the property used as security).
It includes: holiday/vacation homes and part-time residences that are not the borrower’s or borrowers’ principal place of residence.


Large (business size)

A business is classified as large if it has turnover greater than or equal to $50 million.


Margin lending

Margin lending is the provision of secured loans to investors for the purpose of purchasing financial assets. The purchased assets are generally used as security for the margin loan. The financial assets purchased are usually equities or units in managed funds.

For the purposes of the EFS collection, margin lending facilities may be provided to households or private and public sector businesses.

It includes:

• fixed term loans; and
• revolving credit.

Medium (business size)

A business is classified as medium if the lender has a total exposure to the business that is greater than or equal to $1 million and the business has turnover of less than $50 million.


Newly erected dwellings

Refers to a dwelling that has not previously been occupied by a household.

It includes:

• off-the-plan purchases;
• dwellings resulting from the conversion of non-residential buildings to dwellings; and
• dwellings built by property developers speculatively for resale.

It excludes: existing dwellings that have been refurbished or renovated.


Non-ADIs

Financial institutions that are not Authorised deposit-taking institutions (ADIs). Non-ADIs are money market corporations such as brokers and finance companies and securitisers.


Off-the-plan

Off-the-plan dwelling purchases typically require a deposit from the buyer before dwelling construction is completed and usually before construction has commenced. Buyers often obtain in-principal, pre-approval for a home loan for the completed dwelling. In practice, lenders usually value the nearly completed dwelling and make a lending decision based on consideration of circumstances prevailing at that time. The lending commitment associated with off-the-plan dwellings usually eventuates close to the dwelling’s completion which is usually many months after the deposit was paid.

Loans for off-the-plan purchases of dwellings should be categorised as loans for newly erected dwellings and not as loans for construction.


Personal investment

Refers to personal loans to purchase assets that are expected to maintain or increase in value other than housing. It excludes housing for the purposes of investment and margin loans.


Plant and equipment

Plant and equipment means any property, plant and equipment asset that is not property.
Such assets are typically vital to business operations but cannot be easily liquidated.

It includes:

• road vehicles;
• other transport vehicles and equipment;
• construction and earthmoving equipment;
• agriculture machinery; and
• electronic data processing and office equipment.

Purpose:

Business purpose means transactions by persons, legal entities or other organisations related to their activities in the production and sale of goods and services for profit. It also includes the transactions of non-profit institution such as community service organisations and transactions by private and public sector businesses.

Housing purpose means transactions by households related to the provision of residential property for use by the household sector. Housing includes transactions to finance or refinance the construction or purchase of newly erected dwellings or existing dwellings, alterations, additions and repairs or to purchase residential land. It includes finance to the household sector.

Personal purpose means transactions by persons within the household sector whose dealings with other sectors are for purposes other than business purposes or housing purposes.


Purchase of property

Comprises both residential and non-residential land, buildings and fixed structures for business purposes.


Revolving credit

Revolving credits are lending facilities that the borrower may repeatedly draw down in part or in full up to an authorised credit limit and repay, any credit drawn, in part or in full, on multiple occasions without the facility being cancelled. Repayments (other than of charges and interest) reduce the borrowings, thereby increasing the amount of unused credit available. It includes facilities with a fixed term that meet the above criteria.

It includes:

• arranged overdrafts. These are generally an agreed arrangement between a lender and a borrower to extend credit when the balance in an attached transaction account falls below zero;
• unarranged overdrafts. These refer to the situation when a transaction account holder withdraws an amount greater than the balance of the account leaving a negative balance. The lender usually charges an overdrawn account fee as well as interest on the negative balance, and usually requires the account holder to restore the account’s positive balance;
• secured and unsecured revolving credit facilities; and
• reverse mortgages.

It excludes:

• redraw facilities attached to fixed-term loans; and
• bill facilities.

Road vehicles

Vehicles that are primarily used on the road, for example cars, trucks, motor vehicles and utes. It excludes attachments such as trailers, semi-trailers.


Small (business size)

A business is classified as small if the lender has an exposure to the business that is less than $1 million and the business has turnover of less than $50 million.


Credit limits

Credit limit is the maximum amount of funds available to the borrower without additional authorisation or approval, including outstanding balances and other funds that can be drawn without additional approval by the lender in this amount.

A non-related party is not a related party, where a related party means a parent entity, controlled entity, joint venture entity and any other entity under the same parent entity.


Wholesale finance

Means finance for the purchase of goods that will then be on-sold.


Working capital

Means a loan used to finance for everyday operations of the business, such as accounts payable and wages