Lending indicators

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

Reference period
January 2020
Released
11/03/2020

Key statistics

In January 2020, new loan commitments:

  • rose 4.6% for housing (seasonally adjusted)
  • rose 2.0% for personal fixed term loans (seasonally adjusted)
  • fell 1.3% 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 seven 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.

Backcasted data to July 2002 is included for some data series. The historical time series data, prior to July 2019, should be used with caution, particularly lower level series that are more volatile. Data prior to July 2019 has been modelled using comparisons made during July 2019 to September 2019, when the new EFS collection was conducted in parallel with the old collection. Consequently, the historical time series should be viewed as analytical series provided to help with interpretation of data reported on the new EFS basis.

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.

New loan commitmentsJanuary 2020Month percent changeYear percent change
$b%%
  Seasonally adjusted
Households   
 Housing20.734.623.3
  Owner occupier (a)15.035.026.9
  Investor (a)5.703.614.7
 Personal   
  Fixed term loans1.832.010.4
Businesses   
 Construction2.13-29.3-17.9
 Purchase of property4.53-17.6-13.7
  Trend
Households   
 Housing20.322.719.2
  Owner occupier (a)14.712.922.5
  Investor (a)5.612.111.3
 Personal   
  Fixed term loans1.821.99.5
Businesses   
 Construction2.92-1.330.5
 Purchase of property4.51-0.3-19.4

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

Key graphs

New loan commitments for housing are up 28.2% on the most recent low point in May 2019.


Personal finance fixed term loans rose for the second consecutive month in January, however, the series is down 21.7% on the April 2016 peak.


The value of business finance commitments for construction and for the purchase of property fell in both seasonally adjusted and trend terms.

Housing

New loan commitments by purpose Seasonally adjusted
January 2020Month percent changeYear percent change
 %%
 Value ($b)
Owner occupier   
 Total housing (a)15.035.026.9
  Construction of dwellings1.518.319.9
  Purchase of newly erected dwellings2.0814.064.6
  Purchase of existing dwellings10.453.024.5
 First home buyers4.194.846.2
Investor   
 Total housing (a)5.703.614.7
 Number
Owner occupier   
 Total housing (a) (b)-  --
  Construction of dwellings3 3614.23.7
  Purchase of newly erected dwellings4 28313.448.4
  Purchase of existing dwellings20 8811.13.5
 First home buyers9 9453.225.5
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 housing continues to grow strongly.


The purchase of existing dwellings and purchase of new dwellings drove the growth in the value of owner occupier loan commitments.


The value of owner occupier loan commitments rose in January in all states and territories except Queensland.


The value of investor loan commitments has risen for the fourth consecutive month, however, the largest states are down significantly since early 2017.


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

First home buyers

In January 2020:

  • the number of owner occupier first home buyer loan commitments rose 3.2% in seasonally adjusted terms
  • the number of first home buyer loan commitments for investment purposes accounted for 4.7% of all first home buyer commitments, in original terms
  • owner occupier first home buyer loan commitments accounted for 30.9% 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 commitmentsFirst home buyer ratioFirst home buyer ratio
Number (a)Dwellings (b)Housing (c)
Total Australia8 50335.2%30.9%
 New South Wales1 92130.4%26.8%
 Victoria2 93739.6%34.1%
 Queensland1 65734.3%30.5%
 South Australia49626.3%23.3%
 Western Australia1 09445.0%40.5%
 Tasmania17332.5%25.8%
 Northern Territory5640.3%36.8%
 Australian Capital Territory16929.4%26.4%

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 reached the highest point in ten years.


The number of owner occupier first home buyer loan commitments rose in all states and territories except for Victoria and ACT.

* 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

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