Lending finance shows business credit downtrend

Wednesday 16 January 2013

The ABS this morning released Lending Finance data for the month of November, which registered small seasonally-adjusted rises in personal, lease and housing finance commitments, but a big fall in commercial finance:

In seasonally-adjusted terms, the value of personal finance commitments rose by 1.o% and was up by 6.4% over the year:

The value of lease finance commitments also rose, up 1.5% over the month and by 13.9% over the past year:

The value of housing finance commitments rose by 0.6% in November and is up 3.0% over the year:

Bucking the trend was commercial finance, which fell by -7.2% in November and is down -8.7% over the year, well below pre-GFC highs:

About the author

Leith van Onselen is Chief Economist at the MB Fund and MB Super. He is also a co-founder of MacroBusiness. Leith has previously worked at the Australian Treasury, Victorian Treasury and Goldman Sachs.