The Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) has released Lending Finance data for the month of April, which registered strong seasonally-adjusted rises in personal and commercial finance commitments, but falls in owner-occupied housing and lease finance commitments (see next table).
In seasonally-adjusted terms, the value of personal finance commitments rose by 5.2% over the month and was up by 15.6% over the year:
Commercial finance also rose, up by 3.2% in April, but were down 9.9% over the year and remain well below pre-GFC highs:
By contrast, the value of housing finance commitments fell by 0.9% in April but was up 9.2% over the year:
Finally, the value of lease finance commitments also fell by 1.5% over the month and were down by 8.2% over the past year:
