Is that a business loan I see before me?

ABS Lending Finance is out and shows, bugger me, some growth in commercial finance:

OCTOBER KEY FIGURES

		Sep 2011	Oct 2011	Sep 2011 to Oct 2011
		$m	$m	% change
TREND ESTIMATES
	Housing finance for owner occupation(a)	14 509	14 514	0.0
	Personal finance	7 150	7 181	0.4
	Commercial finance	33 527	34 326	2.4
	Lease finance	412	418	1.3
SEASONALLY ADJUSTED ESTIMATES
	Housing finance for owner occupation(a)	14 546	14 377	-1.2
	Personal finance	6 956	7 317	5.2
	Commercial finance	31 158	36 310	16.5
	Lease finance	427	417	-2.4
(a) Excludes alterations and additions

OCTOBER KEY POINTS

OCTOBER 2011 COMPARED WITH SEPTEMBER 2011:

HOUSING FINANCE FOR OWNER OCCUPATION

• The total value of owner occupied housing commitments excluding alterations and additions was flat (0.0%) in trend terms, while the seasonally adjusted series fell 1.2%.

PERSONAL FINANCE

• The trend series for the value of total personal finance commitments rose 0.4%. Fixed lending commitments rose 0.6% and revolving credit commitments rose 0.3%.
• The seasonally adjusted series for the value of total personal finance commitments rose 5.2%. Revolving credit commitments rose 11.3% and fixed lending commitments rose 0.4%.

COMMERCIAL FINANCE

• The trend series for the value of total commercial finance commitments rose 2.4%. Revolving credit commitments rose 3.6% and fixed lending commitments rose 1.7%.
• The seasonally adjusted series for the value of total commercial finance commitments rose 16.5% in October 2011, after a 9.5% fall in September 2011. Revolving credit commitments rose 34.8%, after a 15.1% fall in the previous month. Fixed lending commitments rose 8.0%, after a 6.6% fall in the previous month.

LEASE FINANCE 

• The trend series for the value of total lease finance commitments rose 1.3%, while the seasonally adjusted series fell 2.4%.

16% sounds like a lot but here’s the charts to give you some perspective:

The biggest jump was in revolving credit and here is another chart by sector:

The big expansion was in retail, which appears to be seasonal (this data is unadjusted), mining, which speaks for itself, and manufacturing, which makes little sense unless we think of it as maxing out the credit card to pay your bills!