5601.0 - Lending to households and businesses, Australia, Sep 2019 Quality Declaration 
ARCHIVED ISSUE Released at 11:30 AM (CANBERRA TIME) 08/11/2019   
   Page tools: Print Print Page Print all pages in this productPrint All

MEDIA RELEASE

8 November 2019Embargoed: 11:30 am (Canberra time)

New lending to households rises 1.1 per cent

The value of new lending commitments to households rose 1.1 per cent in September 2019, seasonally adjusted, according to the latest Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) figures.

The rise in new lending commitments to households in September follows a 3.8 per cent rise in August and a 4.2 per cent rise in July 2019.

ABS Chief Economist, Bruce Hockman said: “In September, the value of new lending commitments to households rose for the fourth straight month. The renewed growth in household lending commitments continues to be spurred on by new commitments for owner occupier dwellings, which rose 3.2% in September. After recent growth, this series is up 17.3 per cent on the most recent trough in May 2019.”

All states and territories apart from the Australian Capital Territory contributed to the rise in lending for owner occupier commitments in September. New lending commitments for investment dwellings fell 4.0 per cent following rises in the previous three months, with Victoria (down 6.5 per cent) and Queensland (down 7.0 per cent) driving the fall in September.

The number of loans to owner occupier first home buyers fell 1.9 per cent in September, the first fall this year. Compared to September 2018, the number of owner occupier first home buyer loan commitments was up 6.8 per cent.

Personal finance commitments rose 7.7 per cent in September following a 2.7 per cent fall in August and were down 5.7 per cent on September 2018.

In trend terms, the value of new lending commitments to businesses fell 0.9 per cent in September and was down 3.5 per cent on September 2018.

More information is available in Lending to Households and Businesses, Australia (cat no. 5601.0).

The next edition of Lending to Households and Businesses, Australia (cat no. 5601.0) will be based on a new, improved data collection, called the Economic and Financial Statistics (EFS) collection. To better reflect the new content, the publication will be renamed Lending Indicators, Australia (cat. no. 5601.0). The first issue of the new publication will contain October 2019 data and will be released on 17 December 2019. More information is available in Information paper: Upcoming changes to Lending to Households and Business, Australia (cat no. 5601.0.55.002).

Media note:
  • When reporting ABS data, you must attribute the Australian Bureau of Statistics (or ABS) as the source
  • For media requests and interviews, please contact the ABS Media Team on 1300 175 070 (8:30am - 5:00pm Mon-Fri)
  • Subscribe to our email notification service and get media releases or products sent to you on release